Klopp insists Liverpool on right track
LEICESTER, United Kingdom: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted his side are thriving, despite the pressure they faced during a recent four-game winless streak that was ended with a 3- 2 victory at Leicester City on Saturday.
Klopp’s side have come in for criticism at both ends of the pitch as a misfiring attack has failed to take its chances while a leaky defence has struggled to keep a clean sheet.
Goals from Mohamed Salah, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson solved one of those problems as the Reds won at Leicester.
But a match Liverpool threatened to dominate when they lead 2- 0 turned into a nail-biting finish as their defence conceded goals to Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy.
And they could have been forced to settle for a draw but for the heroics of Simon Mignolet, who gave away a penalty but redeemed himself by denying Vardy from the spot.
Klopp said: “I thought we were deserved winners. It’s a good day. I loved how we fought for the result. It could have been clearer, but after a few games without a win you have to fight back.
“We feel we are in a really good way but we have to show it with results so everybody can see it. You could see it at 2- 0 up the game looked a bit different, we wanted to manage it, but it was too early and we were in the wrong spaces.
“I know about pressure, I have actually had pressure all my life for different reasons.
“Pressure, when it is the right pressure, always helps. We want to be successful, this quality we have is a response to being under pressure. After a few games without the right result we have to fight back and that’s what we did.
“We are in a good way because we are playing good football. Yes, we still have problems defensively but every line-up concedes goals.
“We love to work together and have a fantastic atmosphere at Melwood. We all want to be successful together.”
The two sides combined to provide a frenetic, rollercoaster of a match that flowed from end to end.
Salah opened the scoring for Liverpool with a powerful header from a tight angle.
It looked like the Reds might run away with it when Coutinho curled in a superb free-kick on 22 minutes.
Leicester struck back through Okazaki on the stroke of halftime but fell further behind as Henderson applied the coup de grace to a devastating counter attack.
The home side battled back once more with Vardy converting a header.
Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare said: “We’ve got mixed emotions and I’m struggling to process the game. We’ve got no points but we contributed to a great game. Fabulous game, momentum felt with us but come away with nothing because we put ourselves at risk.’’ — AFP