Klopp shows old mate Wagner no mercy to ease Anfield strain
AFTER days of criticism so strong that an impassioned defence of his reign was deemed necessary in the hours before lame Huddersfield arrived yesterday, Jurgen Klopp finally found something to smile about.
Liverpool thoroughly dismantled their manager’s best friend on an afternoon David Wagner’s side barely ventured beyond halfway.
It certainly will not banish the painful nature of that 4-1 battering by Spurs at Wembley last week and Klopp admitted that. Nor will only a second Premier League win since August convince that they have truly turned a corner.
Yet it does offer indication of an ability to bounce back. Right now, that will have to do. A clean sheet too, Liverpool’s fourth in five home league games this season.
Huddersfield, coming off the back of their 2-1 win over Manchester United last weekend, kept Liverpool at bay before the break, but second-half goals from Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino and Georgino Wijnaldum ended this contest with ease.
‘People didn’t like the first half too much, I know. I could hear it,’ said Klopp. ‘We didn’t have the best week. We take the situation really seriously. We cannot ignore Tottenham, you have to deal with it.
‘We were a bit stiff. We had too many players behind the ball. It wasn’t too difficult to fix at half-time.’
Huddersfield’s defensive game plan began to fail four minutes before the break when Firmino’s shirt was pulled by Tommy Smith in the box but Mohamed Salah saw his penalty saved by Jonas Lossl before Jordan Henderson thrashed the rebound wide via a post.
But Liverpool would eventually have their lead five minutes after the restart when Sturridge pounced on Smith’s poor header to dink home his 100th goal in club football.
It was 2-0 just before the hour, Firmino beating Aaron Mooy to meet James Milner’s corner.
By the time Wijnaldum shimmied and hammered high into Lossl’s net with 15 minutes left, Huddersfield were finished.
Wagner admitted: ‘We couldn’t punish them on the counter — and that comes when you are able to keep a clean sheet longer.’