GROUND KLOPP DAY

Rerun of shambles at Watford kept Reds boss awake at night

JURGEN KLOPP’S sleep was disturbed by recurring images of Liverpool’s first league defeat of the season.

But he is confident his side will not be caught napping again as he called on them to respond to their mini-blip against Bournemouth at Anfield today.

The Kop manager watched a rerun of last Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Watford before bedtime that night – it was so gruesome he found it hard to nod off afterwards.

“I was thinking about why we lost, it was not on my radar,” he said. “That is what a night like this is. It’s not about sleeping too much.

“I sleep but not for long. There’s no time for it because the next morning we have training again.”

It is his usual routine following a game but, after a season in which Liverpool have run away with the Premier League title race, the German will have surely mused over their worst performance of the campaign a little longer.

“I was OK,” said Klopp, whose side are looking to extend their 22-point lead at the top of the table today.

“I’m too old to think that we could win every game from now on. I was, unfortunately, prepared for the moment we would lose without wanting to lose. That’s how it is. It’s normal. Things happen.”

Klopp will not like what he saw in the rerun of the Watford game. The Reds lacked creativity while also making defensive mistakes. They barely had a shot on target.

Liverpool lost again three days later at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea dumped them out of the FA Cup.

But that was a much-changed team in a competition Klopp has shown near contempt for.

Today’s lunchtime kick-off against Bournemouth is Liverpool’s first chance to respond to the Watford shambles.

Then they face Atletico Madrid on Wednesday in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie having lost the away fixture 1-0 last month.

“That we lost three in three different competitions – we feel that,” Klopp admitted. “I cannot ignore it or deny we feel it. It is there.

“We have to show a reaction. We need to show resilience, 100 per cent.

“Any fabulous football is built on resilience, stability, and defensive readiness. It is always like this.”