It just ain’t fair

Klopp: Liverpool were the better side and should have won

LONDON: Juergen Klopp assessed Liverpool’s latest failure to win an English Premier League game after a 1-1 draw at Newcastle by saying: “Football is not fair.”

Liverpool’s German manager found it difficult to accept that the visitors emerged with only a point thanks to a spectacular long-range goal from Philippe Coutinho after enjoying twice as much possession as Rafael Benitez’s Newcastle at St James’ Park on Sunday.

“I thought we were the better side and created more clear chances. I think we should have won,” Klopp said after a draw that leaves Liverpool seven points adrift of front-runners Manchester City and Manchester United.

A win that would have moved them into the top four appeared likely after Coutinho put them ahead in the 29th minute, but they paid the price for failing to take other chances.

Klopp remains confident, however, that Liverpool, yet to win the English title in the Premier League era, are equipped to mount a challenge at the top of the table.

“I cannot talk about our football and the gap between us and other teams. We are having our hard moment and other teams will have their hard moment,” he said.

“I really think it looks like we are not far away from a real challenge,” he added with Liverpool having won the last of their then-record 18 English titles in 1990.

Klopp insisted: “If we do what we are good at then we can score more goals and we will win more games.

“We don’t have to think about other teams and we will close the gap. It’s is all about our situation, we are not thinking about where the others are.

“I’ve played a lot of times with dif- ferent teams to know when we have a problem – and here we were the better team again and created more chances. We were in very promising situations, but didn’t score.

“I’ve been around football and I know there is going to be one day when it will click and we will score more. Yes, we have one win in seven, but in most of those games we have been the better team.

“Now the only thing to do is carry on and hope that something happens. We are still confident. It’s our duty to be confident because the players have quality.” — AFP

We are still confident. It’s our duty to be confident because the players have quality.

Juergen Klopp

Bang on target: Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho scoring against Newcastle at St James’ Park on Sunday. — Reuters