CRAZY FIVE MINUTES FRUSTRATES KLOPP
Jurgen Klopp believes that Liverpool deserved a better reward than a point from last night’s stunning 3-3 Premier League draw at Arsenal.
The Merseysiders impressively stormed into a 2-0 lead, but were rocked by three goals in five sensational second-half minutes turned the game around.
It was a nightmare spell for former Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet, as Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil all notched.
Liverpool rallied to bag a point thanks to Roberto Firmino, but it was still disappointing for the visitors.
Klopp said: “The second half was not worse [than the first], we scored the second one – a wonderful, individual goal.
“On the whole, we had more chances, so yes, of course it feels not too cool.
“We had five minutes where we were very often had obvious problems and individual problems – all the goals. It’s not in this case [about] the team defending.
“The first goal is why you should avoid crosses and of course when the ball is in the box it is at least 50-50, [but it was a] misjudgement. [There was] misjudgement around the second goal. Third one, misjudgement – too deep, no offside, we let them go in the box and make it too easy.
“Then, after these five minutes, we reacted then much better and deserved in the end the point.
“It’s the minimum that we deserved. The result is not what we wanted, but the performance for 89 minutes was what we wanted.
“The five minutes were very decisive and difficult to explain, but good to learn from because we need to react differently. As individual players, we need to react differently in situations like this – you need to be much angrier than sad or disappointed.
“So we gave them [a chance], we opened the door for them in these five minutes and they, with all respect, took the chances.”
The Reds willbe the more aggrieved party, having failed to grind out the win from a position of serious strength.
Liverpool pounced on Arsenal’s malaise to dominate the first half. Mo Salah’s lofted chip let Philippe Coutinho open the scoring, the Brazilian heading home to punish the wayward hosts.
Liverpool wasted some good chances Firmino almost doubled before Sala made no mistake when sent through the middle by Firmino.
The Egypt hitman fired home via a minor deflection off Shkodran Mustafi, as Liverpool moved 2-0 up.
But Arsenal turned the encounter on its head.
Sanchez headed in at the far post to halve the deficit.
When Mignolet flapped and missed Xhaka’s facile long-range effort, the Gunners were level.
The hosts then stole the lead, Ozil trading passes with Alexandre Lacazette, whose back heel allowed the German to apply a cool finish.
Arsenal’s shambling defence proved their Achilles heel again, as Firmino blasted Liverpool level again at 3-3, with the ball looping into the net despite Petr Cech’s parried attempt at a save.
Midfielder James Milner, an early sub for injured Sunderland-born skipper Jordan Henderson, was frustrated too. “I think when you’re in a position like that at this level you’ve got to see the game out,” he said. “We’ve got to be more boring.
“Obviously we’re very good going forward but those are the times when you’ve got to tighten up, not make mistakes for those five minutes.
“All the goals were our fault, really, and that’s something we have to learn from and we need to do it quick, because it seems to be a thing for us this year.”