Jürgen Klopp on 'massive' Newcastle win, consistency, Alisson's display and more
Jürgen Klopp lauded a 'massive' win for Liverpool after his side beat Newcastle United 2-0 at St. James' Park on Saturday evening.
The Reds became the first side to beat the Magpies at home in the Premier League this season to record a league double over them and close the gap on the top four.
Strikes from Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo had put the visitors into a two-goal lead before the hosts lost goalkeeper Nick Pope to a straight red card for handball midway through the first half.
Read on for a summary of what Klopp had to say about the game in his post-match press conference…
On the result and Liverpool's performance…
I think we knew, especially now, how intense the start of Newcastle is, how they want to start the game, especially at home. You have to be ready for that. It was a bit wild and stuff like this, but in the moment we controlled it we scored incredible goals. Top goals and then the quick restart for a possible third goal… I didn't see it [back], but the ball is on his hand or whatever. I saw it but somebody was in between and in the end, there was a red card [but] I would have definitely preferred a goal. I think that was possible, if Mo gets on the ball it is pretty likely we will score there and playing against 11 because it was also the moment when we lost a bit of rhythm. Because of the amount of set-pieces we gave away, that was always a threat and there is no advantage when it's 11v10 when there is a ball on the corner flag or wherever. There is no advantage, so there were too many but we had our moments.
We could have scored a third and fourth one, we didn't. I think one was unlucky, one I still don't understand – it was a great ball for Mo and he goes down. I didn't see it back, [but] in that moment it looked for me like a penalty but I don't know. We didn't score [a third] and keeps the game exciting and Newcastle, all credit to them, they put a proper shift in, they really wanted to go for it, they fought really hard. That's why it was exciting until the end but we got the three points and we are very happy about that.
On Nunez and Gakpo getting on the scoresheet…
Look, it helps, I don't know exactly how often the boys played together in that formation, [but] that's very important. You can train, but then you need the games and stuff like this. You have to work on details. I loved the goals, the way we moved there, not offside, patient enough. The vision from the passes. Trent, top pass, super control from Darwin – a super goal. Then the second goal, real good link-up play and then the chip from Mo for Cody… top goals, honestly. That's how it is when you can play a bit more together, but it's now as well the bad news: Darwin has something on his shoulder. We will see. In the end, he had to go off with a shoulder issue and we need further assessment. I don't know in the moment. It's painful but hopefully it's just painful and nothing more.
On how big a win it is for Liverpool's season...
Massive. Massive, massive, massive. I don't think we are in a position now where we can have a big mouth and say, 'We are here and go again.' It is obvious we are in a better place than we were a couple of weeks ago but there's still space for improvement and we have to show consistency. So, next game Real Madrid, different competition, nothing to do with the game today. We have to recover and then go for that. After that it's Crystal Palace. Palace is a tough place to go as well, so we have to keep going. When you are in the position we are in, there is no alternative to consistency to get out of it. And result-wise that was definitely good for consistency. And performance-wise, there was a lot of good stuff and areas we could improve.
On back-to-back wins and clean sheets going into the Real Madrid tie...
Massive. I didn't know it but I heard now the last clean sheet away from home was in April here – I can't believe that, we have February, wow. Yeah, it's massive, but that explains a little bit the issues we had in the game then that we couldn't control it better, so just because it's so long ago that we were in a situation obviously like that. It's unfortunate football is not like cycling that you know it once you will do it always exactly on the same level. No, it is different. So the only way we can do it and get back on this track is by winning, and we did that now twice in a row and that feels absolutely incredible. Good.
On Alisson Becker's performance...
He's the goalie he is and we love having him. He had a very helpful performance today, absolutely.