“We didn’t enjoy the challenge enough.”
A dejected Jurgen Klopp was in no mood to hold back his frustrations at his players following Liverpool’s shock 1-0 loss to Bournemouth.
Liverpool had beaten Manchester United 7-0 only six days ago, and kept three clean sheets in four games, so things were looking up for Klopp’s men.
Bournemouth were rooted in the relegation zone and deflated after losing to Arsenal last weekend following a last minute winner from the Londoners.
Everything here pointed towards a victory for The Reds, but they have only won three games away from home this season, are yet to win any of the matches that they played in the early kick off, and bizarrely have a shocking record whenever they wear their white away jersey.
All these things seemed trivial, but there was an air of inevitability in today’s match, especially when Mohammad Salah missed a penalty – the first time he’s ever failed to hit the target from the spot during his Liverpool career.
“Bournemouth are fighting to stay in the league, wonderful club, wonderful city, they want to stay in and they do really well,” said Klopp.
“Results were not going in the right direction in the last few months but the performances look different and so they deserve the three points today, that’s it.
“He (Salah) scores a lot of goals, he missed a penalty, that’s life. Honestly the last penalty we got I don’t know when it was, in the league at least, it’s long ago.
“It’s completely hypothetical but I think if we score there it could turn, that doesn’t make the performance better but it could change the result, that’s it.
Huge moment as Mohamed Salah misfires from the spot 😳 pic.twitter.com/EyaJ2paKO2
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 11, 2023
“They did always the same stuff but it was successful because we didn’t defend it well, then I thought we started okay in the second half, we get the penalty, miss it, then after that we were in a real rush and didn’t create enough.”
The away team didn’t even force the opposition keeper into making a save in the whole second half, something which is hugely concerning for the German native.
“It’s clear we cannot win all the balls but little things make a massive difference, then we go one nil down – not helpful, obviously, on the counter attack.
"Wow, what can I say – it was never really our game."
Jürgen Klopp tries to make sense of a tough Liverpool defeat
🎙️ @TheDesKelly pic.twitter.com/7GV2rA8ip0
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 11, 2023
“I think the spaces we had to play in were super clear, super open, and we didn’t use them often enough – the spaces next to their two midfielders, the rest was more or less busy with covering other spaces.
“But we didn’t use that often enough, didn’t enjoy the challenge enough to face a deep, compact side. Of course we were dominant in the first half, they had their counter attacks what they wanted to have, we didn’t have.”
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