DILIGENT REDS
Klopp praises Liverpool’s ‘matured’ performance in win over Brighton
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed his side’s maturity as Premier League contenders after breaking down an obdurate Brighton thanks to Mohamed Salah’s 50th-minute penalty in a 1-0 win on Saturday.
Klopp’s men had lost their last two games in very contrasting fashion as Manchester City inflicted Liverpool’s only Premier League defeat of the campaign nine days ago before a muchchanged side lost in the FA Cup to Wolves.
Liverpool were far from their fluent best on England’s south coast, but ground out a vital win to move seven points clear of City, who are in action at home to Wolves today, thanks to a 13th clean sheet in 22 league games this season.
“We are not the Harlem Globetrotters, we have to deliver results,” said Klopp on the need to respond to defeat at City.
“For that, we need to perform. The performance was good. It was not the best performance of the season in a few departments but I would say it was the most mature performance of the season.
“It’s so important. On the good days everybody can win; on average days not a lot of teams can win football games and, on a bad day, only a few can win.
“Today was not a bad day but it was a difficult day because Brighton is doing really well.”
Salah was just one a number of first-team regulars to return from Monday’s defeat by Wolves, but the Egyptian and the rest of Liverpool’s forward line were starved of service before the break as Brighton sat deep and the visitors dominated possession without any cutting edge.
Klopp admitted it had been “no opera” watching his side struggle to create chances on the south coast in a game of little goalmouth incident other than Salah’s 17th goal of the season after the Egyptian had been hauled down by Pascal Gross five minutes into the second half.
“It was very hard but that is how it is,” added Klopp. “I liked the performance. It wasn’t an opera of football but it was a really nice song.”
One moment of madness from Gross undid Hughton’s gameplan to defend and frustrate the league leaders.
“I feel for Pascal because Mo Salah is probably the most dangerous player once he gets in those positions one on one,” said Brighton boss Chris Hughton, who had no complaints over the penalty award.
We are not the Harlem Globetrotters, we have to deliver results.
Liverpool manager