Jürgen Klopp on West Brom draw, disallowed goal and Mignolet injury
Jürgen Klopp admitted Liverpool were guilty of not taking the chances they managed to create during a goalless stalemate with West Bromwich Albion.
The Reds were forced to settle for a point from their Premier League meeting with the Baggies on a night when genuine opportunities were at a premium at Anfield.
Hal Robson-Kanu struck the crossbar for the visitors while substitute Dominic Solanke had an effort disallowed due to handball, meaning a third straight home league draw for Klopp’s men.
Read on for the manager’s post-match reaction…
On it being a ‘difficult’ night…
Yes, of course. It was clear from the first second it would be a difficult game. It was clear what the job for us to do would be. It was clear that each set-piece will be a threat; our line-up was not the tallest tonight so it was clear they would try everything, even in their own half. They made a proper set-piece of it with a free-kick. But it was not too dangerous, we did pretty well. They had one proper situation when they had the header and Loris had to make the save. All the rest pretty much we defended well. Then we had the ball – that was maybe the main story of the game, we had it all the time.
First half, it looked a little bit stiff, the timing of the movements was not the way it should have been, passing was not that good, a little bit too late, not quick enough. It was kind of a static formation very often; they had their formation and for us it looked a little bit difficult. But even in that half we had three or four not-too-big chances, I would say, and two chances we already scored off this season.
The second half was better, we changed the system a few times and tried to bring them more trouble, which we did. We had good crosses, good chances and scored a goal which was disallowed. Obviously it was not a night for 3-0, 4-0 or 5-0. If you don’t score early, that was clear. We were ready to work hard for this one moment, but it didn’t happen so that’s what we now have to accept. If you don’t score in football, you always have to accept the result.
On Solanke’s disallowed goal…
For me, it is twice deflected and I’m still not sure if the hand [touched] the ball or not. For me, it looks like chest. In the game it looked 100 per cent like chest. Afterwards, when I had a few replays, yes, there’s an arm, but I’m not sure if he touched the ball with his arm. Is it a penalty in the other box? I’m not sure. It’s not on purpose, for sure not. It must be a really good assistant, the assistant made the decision. He will be happy probably if there was a hand involved.
That’s another moment where we had no luck for sure, if he doesn’t see it or he’s not as sure as he obviously was then it’s a goal. We had the other situations; a cross from Trent when Mo didn’t hit the ball right, Sadio was at his back and both could have scored, like Roberto in the first half. It was not a game for 20 chances but we had seven or eight and we all know the boys usually score in moments like this. The first half I was not happy with. I accept it because it can happen of course, 0-0 and there’s usually 50 minutes to go, it was only 48. We didn’t score, so it’s 0-0.
On whether he felt Liverpool’s team selection worked…
That’s not my job to talk about – I made the decision already and if we don’t win, for me it’s like it didn’t work, but that happens quite a lot in the life of a manager. If I would now be too frustrated about that, it would not make sense too much. I was 100 per cent convinced about this line-up like I was 100 per cent convinced about the last line-up.
On Simon Mignolet being named on the bench…
He was fit, he had a swollen ankle from a kick and it was only three days ago. Simon could have played, but why should we take any risk? Loris was fit and Simon was only on the bench because he could have played. An outfield player would not play with a swollen ankle, but as a goalkeeper, if you don’t have alternatives, maybe you could do it. I thought it made no sense; we play on Sunday again and if he gets one more knock… It’s always if you’re half-injured, it really often happens that you get a serious one afterwards, so that was the reason for that.