Klopp: L’Pool Not Harlem Globetrotters
Jurgen Klopp hailed Liverpool’s resolve as the Premier League leaders secured an important 1-0 win at Brighton despite a below-par performance on the south coast yesterday.
Klopp’s side did not manage a shot on target in the first half, but were ahead early in the second after Pascal Gross fouled Mohamed Salah in the area and the Egyptian fired in the spotkick.
Victory extended Liverpool’s advantage at the summit to seven points ahead of third-placed Tottenham’s match with Manchester United on Sunday and second-placed Manchester City’s meeting with Wolves on Monday.
Liverpool have been praised for their attacking play this season, but Klopp believes it is games such as Saturday’s the the table-toppers are proving the difference between themselves and the rest of the chasing pack.
Speaking about the result in relation to the performance, Klopp told reporters: “I take these questions in the beginning of the season pretty often. When we started and we had results and people thought the difference between the City or Rome home game in the Champions League last year was too big.
“It’s absolutely OK. We are not the Harlem Globetrotters, we have to deliver results. It’s difficult enough. For that we need to perform. The performance was good.
“It was not the best performance of the season in a few parts. But from a maturity point of view, I would say it was the most mature performance of the season. It’s so important. “On a good day, everybody can win a football games. On an average day, not a lot of football teams can win football games. On a bad day, pretty much only a few teams can win football games.
“Today was not a bad day, it was a difficult day for us. It was just a difficult game because Brighton is doing really well. We played a lot of times against a 4-5-1 system, but how they do it is different. I’m really happy that the boys took the game like it is.”
Klopp admitted that Liverpool were unlikely to wrack up a high score against Brighton considering the Seagulls’ tactics of sitting deep, saying: “I think it was clear today was not a day for a massive result.