Sport vs Manchester City
After the spectacle, Jürgen Klopp formulated a declaration of love for his players
As of: 11:15 p.m. | Reading time: 4 minutes
Premier League spectacle ends in a draw – Arsenal laughs third
The last coaching duel between Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola remains without a winner. Liverpool FC and Manchester City draw 1-1 in the top game. The beneficiary of this draw is Arsenal FC: The “Gunners” are now in first place in the Premier League.
He had seen the best half they had ever played against Manchester City. Jürgen Klopp formulated a declaration of love for his weakened Liverpool team and raved about his players. The criticism of the spurned penalty in stoppage time was almost lost.
He still seemed intoxicated by the game. Jürgen Klopp seemed almost carried away by this memorable and high-class 1:1 that his Liverpool FC and Manchester City had previously offered the football world. “The first ten minutes were not enjoyable. But then after that. Increasingly. And the second half was the best we’ve ever played against City. It’s that simple. Would I have expected this for today? Nope. I knew we were good. I think it’s a cool realization that we’re so good, to be honest. So many things went right today,” said Klopp.
The 56-year-old seemed to speak less like a coach and more like a fan, inspired by the performance, proud of the team and each individual player: “A team performance is made up of eleven, 15, 16, 17 individual performances. And every single performance today was extraordinary,” said Klopp, underlining his statement with puffed-out cheeks: “It made for a really nice game.”
also read
With the exception of one scene in stoppage time in which referee Michael Oliver did not award a penalty after an alleged foul on Liverpool’s Mac Allister. “It looked suspiciously like a real penalty,” said Klopp, who of course heard the discussions that followed the final whistle and also had a clear opinion himself: “I heard that he played the ball. That can’t be the explanation, because you can’t lift your foot that high and then touching the ball is the deciding factor. Maybe they want to explain it to us like that, but it doesn’t work. But it doesn’t matter. The discussions will not change the outcome.”
Raise your leg: Jeremy Doku kicks Liverpool’s Mac Allister in the penalty area
Source: dpa/Jon Super
He had no desire to let his good mood be ruined after what was possibly the last of 30 duels against super coach Pep Guardiola. He much preferred to highlight his team’s performance: “We also won 4-3 against City here. But we were 4-0 or 4-1 ahead and somehow got it over the finish line in the end. But today we were in full swing. We played around her in so many moments that I’ve never seen before. I was so happy with so many things. Of course Doku shoots it against the post. But I don’t know: Maybe if Kelleher had been there, it wouldn’t surprise me anyway because of the way Kelleher is playing at the moment. But we also had great chances. I’m extremely pleased with the performance and we’ll take the result with us.”
Klopp’s individual criticism of Liverpool
Actually the appropriate final word, but Klopp wasn’t finished yet, instead he highlighted the special situation due to the numerous injuries and went straight into individual criticism: “We have a lot of injuries, and we’ve had that several times before. But the boys who played then didn’t bring it to the pitch. But these guys here are really – in the most positive sense of the word – ready for a riot. They want to make a lot out of nothing. And that’s a really cool task to be able to give them a little help. So when we go through the individual performances today, it’s just crazy. That’s crazy. Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah… Some thought Haaland could cause Jarell a bit of trouble, but the way the boy did it is crazy. What Conor Bradley did for a game is absolutely extraordinary. Virgil (van Dijk, editor) is in incredible shape. Joe Gomes, Robo (Andrew Robertson, editor)… that’s so good for us. The midfield was unbelievable, was unbelievably good. And we were extremely dangerous up front at any time. And then we have Harvey Elliott, who is 20 years old. And we completely forget that he’s still a boy because he just plays like a 30-year-old, very experienced midfielder. I had so much fun watching this today. And then you have atmosphere in the stadium, and that was really cool.”
also read
The season finale in the Premier League now promises extraordinary excitement. The draw means Arsenal are tied for first place with the Reds. Man City is one point behind in third place.
also read
I have to say that it feels really good to be able to hook you up with my team like that today. That was already a statement from us. We’re there, and now let’s see what comes of it. They won’t be sitting in London at Arsenal today and having a dressing room party and thinking: We’ve already got the two blind guys in the bag. City won’t stop, we won’t stop and Arsenal won’t stop either. There are still a lot of points up for grabs and we’ll see what we can take away from there.”
