Klopp backs Van Dijk, Alisson
JURGEN Klopp has backed captain Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson after the pair’s calamitous error handed Arsenal victory at the Emirates on Sunday.
In his role as a Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane compared Liverpool’s defending to that of a pub team and questioned Van Dijk’s contribution for all three of the Gunners goals.
But Klopp said: ‘Our two main guys had a misunderstanding (for the second goal). They are human beings. That makes what they usually do even more special.
‘Could we have defended the first goal better, yes 100 percent. But that’s how it is.
‘For today we are not happy, they are not happy. But that’s it now, we don’t have to make more of the game.
“We played against Arsenal, you can play super here and still lose. We take it, deal with it and go from there.
‘But we did not play enough football. We were not involved in the game enough. In general we can admit that Arsenal deserve the three points.’
On Ibrahima Konate’s red card for two bookings, Klopp added: ‘A lot of things were against of us today. This referee (Anthiny Taylor) gave me a red card against Man City for a wrestling situation between Bernardo Silva and Mo Salah.
‘Today, the same situation with Jota but didn’t get a red card. It is unbelievable, then (Kai) Havertz holding on Konate for the first yellow card. Then Havertz goes down and the referee gives Konate a yellow card.
‘Gabriel (Magalhaes) does the same to [Darwin] Nunez and no yellow card.’
Van Dijk, himself, held his hands up for Gabriel Martinelli’s goal after the Arsenal forward fired into an empty net to fire his team back ahead following a mix-up between the Liverpool centre back and Alisson.
‘That is a big moment in the game. I should have made a better decision - it hurts for me,’ said the Holland international.
‘Like I said that was a big turning point in the game. After the break we were so good and had opportunities and were dominant, the atmosphere started to come nervous.
‘The turning point is my responsibility, I should try to clear it.
‘Obviously these things don’t happen too often in my career, but I will recover from this.
‘It is a physical game and I am not looking for excuses. At the highest level it is a split decision.
‘Alisson touched me a little bit and he couldn’t clear it, but I take full responsibility for this and I will try to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
‘You play here obviously for every team in the league it is a tough place to go to.
‘It hurts losing. The way we did it today and in so many ways it was unnecessary.
‘It hurts for me and seeing the fans coming all the way down and the whole club it is not nice to be involved in mistakes, but I will work hard and be back.’