Cranky K lo pp blames dry pitch for dismal showing
A disappointed Jurgen Klopp said the “really dry” Anfield pitch was partially to blame for Liverpool’s drab 0-0 home draw with Southampton on Sunday that damaged the Reds’ Champions League ambitions.
James Milner’s second-half missed penalty summed up an afternoon of frustration for Liverpool as it failed to score against Southampton for the fourth time this season.
The Reds knew that three wins from their remaining three matches would secure a top-four spot and Champions League soccer next season, but Klopp’s crew never got untracked against a Southampton squad that had Fraser Forster to thank for a string of outstanding saves.
Third-place Liverpool has now made qualifying for the Champions League more difficult than it would have wished and Klopp, who spent most of the second half ranting on the sidelines, struggled to hide his disappointment.
The Reds boss insisted the poor quality of the Anfield surface had negatively affected his team’s performance.
“Nobody wants to hear it, but the pitch was really dry today,” Klopp said.
“We gave all the water we had and after 15 minutes it was really dry, a lot of passes you could say, ‘Why are they playing this?’
“In a home game you have to have the best circumstances, but we couldn’t have this.
“It is not nice to drop points at home but now we play away and then we have another home game.”
Liverpool’s top-four future is no longer entirely in its hands and Klopp conceded he was upset with how the match unfolded.
“It was a difficult game; Southampton played in a specific way,” he said.
“Some people will say everyone will play like this, but they will not. We needed to score. They were very disciplined, very deep.
“It is all about scoring one — and we couldn’t do this. It made life not easy. We tried until the end but today was one of these days.
“We have only one point more, we wanted to have three points more. It is not the end of the world but we are really disappointed.”