Jürgen Klopp on Chelsea win, Firmino absence and belief
Jürgen Klopp reflected on a 'deserved' result, the decision to leave out Roberto Firmino and the intensity of Liverpool's performance after Friday night's 2-1 win at Chelsea.
The Reds secured a third victory in the Premier League this season at Stamford Bridge thanks to Dejan Lovren’s opener and a sensational long-range shot by Jordan Henderson.
Chelsea responded after the break and struck back through Diego Costa, but Klopp’s charges remained calm and saw out the game to win at the ground for the second year running.
Post-match, the manager discussed the display at his press conference, as well as explaining why Firmino was not involved, how his team can maintain their level and more.
Read on for a full transcript.
On the intensity of the game…
It was very intense, very lively and very flexible. Our build-up was brilliant in the first half. Everybody could see what Chelsea wanted to do – they wanted to win the ball. But I was really happy with the style of play and the confidence. Actually, the problem was that we stopped somehow after around 37 [minutes]. It makes not too much sense but is normal for human beings and especially football players. We had the chance at half-time to talk about this and came back and did quite well again. Then it was absolutely the wrong moment in the wrong situation where we conceded a goal. We wanted to avoid situations like this, getting a counter-attack when you are 2-0 in the lead. We did it, unfortunately. It didn’t look too good. I have to see the goal again but I saw three boys on their back in our box. That makes not too much sense. They scored a goal but we were back and really awake then again, and defended really well-organised. Everybody who saw Chelsea until now knows when they start getting really direct, it’s difficult. We had this one free-kick in a difficult position, but all the rest was really good defending. And we had maybe the biggest chance with Divock’s header – a brilliant save. Deserved [result], all good.
On whether the performance was ‘Klopp football’…
I actually only think about ‘Klopp football’ because everybody is asking me about it. I like good football. That’s how it is. We need to have options for all the things in football. If we have the ball we cannot change. We can give them the ball, but we want to have the ball. So we start playing football. If they have the ball, we start to defend. I don’t think about my kind [of football]. There is no kind, it’s really adapting to the quality and skills of the players and trying to win as many football games as possible. That’s it.
On how he has instilled a level of belief in the players…
We worked together. What can I say? We had a good game last week against Leicester, we had a good game at Tottenham – OK, it’s long ago, but we still remember it. We work together and as I said this week, we enjoy the work together. This afternoon there were really difficult decisions to make with Roberto [Firmino] – a very good player and it was only a little issue, but I had to make the decision in the end to say it was not possible [for him to play]. Everybody said we could take the risk, but I heard the word ‘risk’ too often and so said, ‘no, we can’t take it – Roberto is out’. To leave him out and then the other players play this kind of football is nice. We played like this last time here and we had only been together three weeks or something. We want to win football games and we cannot care where it is.
On maintaining the level of intensity for the rest of the season…
I have managed for 16 years and nearly every day everybody asks me about this. It is not about intensity – it’s really about finding a solution to defend the opponent. We defend together and in the end, we had the ball much more often so it was not that intense. In the first half, it was not that intense – we had the ball all of the time. I have no idea how much we ran but we had the ball, so it was about movements and the most simple kind of playing football. In the end, somebody shoots or runs a little bit quicker so we can come through the lines. It’s not possible to play football without running. It’s not more intense than other kinds of football. The most intense kind of football is when you make a mistake and everybody has to run in the wrong direction – which is what we had to do around their goal. So, all good – but we have to improve. All of you can see that we don’t run like crazy all of the time.
On whether Liverpool are title contenders…
I am really not interested what people say. The same question I had when somebody asked me when we won 3-1 last time here against Chelsea. Someone asked me and my answer was ‘are you crazy!?’ – I remember it. I have learned a little bit about English. We have 10 points and that’s fantastic – really fantastic and I am really happy about it after these difficult fixtures. The season is not over, we have to play football – we know we can play football and we are convinced about our quality. That’s all the truth, but in the end we have to prove it every week – or in this week, every three days because on Tuesday we have the EFL Cup against Derby, which will be a nice game too.
On Daniel Sturridge’s substitution…
I couldn’t see that he could sprint anymore, so that’s why we had to change. We had a healthy, young striker on the bench. That’s all. The first half was really good – really good – from Daniel. We need this player there in the centre who we can play with and if there’s a ball behind the line sometimes, so that we can go there and can push up in the last line. I don’t think there is an injury, it is only the situation. Nobody told me about an injury, so all is good.