Klopp: Liverpool will improve for Villarreal visit
Jürgen Klopp has insisted a much-improved Liverpool side will take to the field for Thursday's Europa League semi-final against Villarreal, as the Reds aim to bounce back from a 3-1 defeat at Swansea City.
The manager elected to make eight changes at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, with several members of his regular team given a rest after an energy-sapping first-leg outing in Spain.
The Reds were subsequently beaten by the Swans but, while the German acknowledged the manner of defeat was self-inflicted, he vowed his team will be a different prospect next time out.
“We have to accept it [the result] because our performance wasn’t good enough,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.
“I’m especially a little bit disappointed because if we had played our normal game for 90 minutes we could have won the game, but we didn’t play a normal game and that was the problem.
“We got it back to 2-1 but then we conceded again and the goals were too simple, too easy for Swansea. I’m not looking for an excuse and I think we could have played better but we didn’t.
“We played like we played and I saw it for the whole 90 minutes and there was not a lot I enjoyed, to be honest. We have to think about it and we have to recover, which is very important, and we will play much, much better than we did on Sunday.
“We have to accept the result, which is what we do, and then we work and we will be better on Thursday.”