Klopp ‘sorry’ for ‘horrible’ Liverpool performance as excuses run dry and boss quizzical on suffering
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Jurgen Klopp said sorry to fans and had “no excuse” for Liverpool’s “horrible” performance, as he questioned how long they “want to suffer”.
It plainly hasn’t been Liverpool’s season. It’s very obvious that their standards have slipped massively since they missed out on the Premier League title by one point last season.
It’s hard to see how they’ve fallen so far since they ran Manchester City so close last term, though.
After 20 games, they’ve won just eight, and have lost just one less than that. The Reds find themselves 10th in the league and it seems there’s little hope of finishing in a decent position.
Liverpool have had a transfer window to forget
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They’ve lost to teams they really would have expected to have beaten. That list includes Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and now Wolves.
Indeed, the Molineux outfit were in 16th before they faced Liverpool, and by no means safe from the threat of relegation.
However, they put Klopp’s side to the sword, scoring three goals as the Merseysiders were unable to respond. Things started off poorly for Liverpool when Joel Matip put the ball in his own net inside five minutes.
Centre-back Craig Dawson doubled the arrears in the 12th minute, before Ruben Neves capped off the 3-0 victory for Wolves in the second half.
Klopp ‘sorry’ and questions when suffering will end
Klopp was unable to explain why Liverpool were so poor. The German felt his side were bad at the start of the game and they were unable to get back into it beyond that point.
“Obviously it was a horrible start. Two goals which cannot happen like that. But it happened and we were 2-0 down because of our own fault. We should have defended better. We were passive in that period. I cannot explain it. There is no excuse for it,” he said via BBC Sport.
“You’re 2-0 down, the crowd is there but it opens up and we get some control. Then for about 45 minutes we play a good away game without scoring. That sums it up pretty much.
“Concentration for the first 15 minutes. Again, I cannot explain. But these 15 minutes cannot be allowed. It needs to change. That’s the thing. I stand here again and for the first 15 minutes I have no explanation, I’m sorry.”
Liverpool have suffered for much of this season. They’re nowhere near where they want to be, and while Klopp feels a goal for his side could have changed the game, that suffering is something that he’s quizzical on.
“Then we have chances we should score. It could have been 2-1 and that would have changed everything I’m sure. Wolves deserve the three points,” he added.
“Yes, definitely. That’s clear. We cannot go through that season that nobody did before but how long do we want to suffer? It is one explanation in general yes, but not for the first 15 minutes here today. What we make of it in this moment is absolutely not OK.”
Questions asked of defence
It seems Virgil van Dijk is a big miss for Liverpool. Indeed, Klopp admitted that there is a lack of a leader in the defence, which is negatively impacting his side.
“You do yourself no favours in these moments, giving easy balls away. We were passive in the two goals, everything we wanted to do was be compact and active but we were compact and passive,” he said.
“The leadership [defensively] is missing but this is not my first explanation, I really think in the specific situation we could have and should have done better.”
Klopp understands that his side are not up to standard and that needs to change, and he reiterated his apology to fans amid this tough period.
“We better change it. That’s true, 100%. I have no words for it really, I’m sorry.”
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