Klopp demands more consistency from players despite sparkling win

LONDON: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp (pic) called for more consistency from his players after a sparkling 4-0 win at Bournemouth followed a goalless stalemate at home to relegation-threatened West Bromwich Albion in midweek.

Philippe Coutinho, Dejan Lovren, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino all scored at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday to lift Liverpool to fourth place and extend the club’s unbeaten run in the English Premier League to nine games.

Klopp was pleased with “pretty much everything” about the display but said his side must perform at the same level in every match.

“I’m not here to celebrate my squad,” Klopp told Sky Sports. “I like them all. That’s why they are at Liverpool. At the West Brom game, they were exactly the same players but they didn’t hit the target.

“I don’t change my mind (about the players). They are good – that’s why they are at Liverpool – but they need to be consistently good because we are Liverpool.

“We are consistent, but we have to be even more consistent in decisive moments. We had a few games like the West Brom game – not performance-wise, but result-wise.”

Brazilian playmaker Coutinho enhanced his reputation by slaloming through the Bournemouth defence and scoring with a cool finish into the bottom corner after 20 minutes.

The 25-year-old is a target for Barcelona and Klopp said he was trying to structure his Liverpool squad in a way that will ensure a player is not missed if he is unavailable.

“He is a fantastic player, but the job of Liverpool is to play without Phil Coutinho, to play without Sadio Mane, to play without Mo Salah,” he said.

“That makes the quality of a squad. Today, he (Coutinho) played really well and helped us a lot, but about the transfer, we have nothing to say about that.

“Nothing positive and nothing negative, until something happens. But that’s still a few weeks and months away.” — Reuters