Sunderland Echo

‘Angry’ Klopp calls for a response after Liverpool drop more points

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Jurgen Klopp admitted he “ge t s a n g r y ” w h e n L ive r - pool fall short of their standards after his side suffered a shock defeat at Southampto­n.

Danny Ings put a dent in his former club’s Premier League title aspiration­s when he cleverly lobbed goalkeeper Alisson Becker to secure a 1-0 win on Monday night.

Liverpool enjoyed most of the possession at St Mary’s, but their first shot on target only came in the 75th minute as they failed to score for a second successive game.

The reigning champions remain top of the table on goal difference from Manchester United, but Klopp knows his players need to quickly find their form.

“I k n ow th e y a re g reat guys, super boys, fantastic football players, but tonight they were not good,” the Reds boss said.

“If I think they should have done better then I get angry, not for long, but I get angry. They know that. It was always like this.

“Just because they won something in the past, doesn’t mean you are always like this.

“We don’t have to make it bigger than it is, but we didn’t w i n th e l a s t th re e ga m e s . That’s all our fault, mainly my fault, but the boys had a hand as well and we have to change that. If you bring yourself (into) a situation like you did tonight, against an opponent like Southampto­n, then you play with fire.

“S outh a m pto n a re to o good for that, Premier League teams are too good for that, and we don’t score late goals because we did it in the past.

“No, you do that because you put them under so much pressure that they cannot cope any more. Southampto­n were on the edge of that, but we helped them. That’s all. We were not good enough tonight.”

S outh a m pto n’s v i c to r y moved them into the top six, just four points behind the leaders.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have lost only two of their last 15 Premier League games – home defeats to Manchester United and Manchester City – and he was delighted his players had managed to beat one of the big teams.

“We had an unbelievab­le mentality, maybe more than they had,” the Saints manager said.

“But I think we never gave up and tried until the end to turn things around but I think we showed that it is possible to win against such teams and we did it against the best team. It’s fantastic.”

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