Jürgen Klopp's verdict on Bournemouth 1-0 Liverpool

Jürgen Klopp assessed a ‘very, very, very frustrating’ day after Liverpool’s 1-0 loss against AFC Bournemouth.

The Reds were overturned in the Premier League on Saturday at Vitality Stadium, where Philip Billing provided the winner for the hosts in minute 28 and Mohamed Salah missed a second-half penalty.

Read a summary of Klopp’s verdict on the defeat at his post-match press conference below…

On his disappointment with the performance…

I am, very. The game was pretty much the opposite of what we wanted to show and to do today. I think we played for pretty much 95 minutes the game Bournemouth wanted to play and a few minutes maybe, a few moments, we did the stuff we wanted to do actually. In the first half I think our two or three best moments were similar: finding the half-space, going from there behind the last line. We scored a goal which was disallowed for offside but was anyway a good situation, well played, had other situations in a similar manner. Had big chances after set-pieces which we didn’t use, like, how do you say this, no-brainers or whatever, where we have to score but don’t.

But in one situation; it was not the only situation Bournemouth had but it was one of the situations Bournemouth had, with going behind our last line, finding the half-spaces there and we didn’t cover each other good enough in these moments, and for the one time Ali couldn’t save us then. I didn’t see it yet how the ball went over the line, there were players in between me and the situation so I couldn’t see that.
Being 1-0 down; 45, 50 minutes’ time to sort it. I thought we started OK in the second half, were a bit clearer in our situations, get a penalty, miss the penalty. Now it’s of course hypothetical – it looked a little bit for me like if we score there, it doesn’t make the game better from the first half but it would give us a proper boost. But we didn’t score from that and then you could see we were a bit in a rush, didn’t create enough, in counter-attacking moments Bournemouth fought massively, with really big passion, won these balls and then the Bournemouth boys showed really their quality, how they kept the ball. We couldn’t defend them in the first place so we had to track back and defend them there. I can’t remember, maybe one big chance for them or a big finish, the rest we defended but it’s still pretty exhausting and then you have a long way back into their box, and so we lost the game. Very, very, very frustrating, yeah.

On whether this setback is more frustrating because it comes after last weekend’s 7-0 win…

Setbacks are setbacks but we are in the situation we are because of the setbacks, that’s how it is. And we are in the situation we are because of the good performances as well; we didn’t have only setbacks but we had too many, that’s clear. Today was a proper one, no doubt about that. Now we have to deal with it and we will deal with it. One of the things we learned this season was to deal with setbacks. We have to make sure we recover properly because on Wednesday we have obviously a big game as well. Then it’s the international break, I hope that everybody comes back healthy. Then we have the football week of all football weeks opponent-wise. There’s a lot to go for but today is now not the moment for me to talk about that. This game was a massive knock and how it is with knocks, you have to take them, you have to have a look how big the scars are and then you go from there.
On whether Liverpool having not been awarded a penalty in the Premier League since last April could have impacted Salah’s miss...

No. I think we should have had more penalties; I cannot tell you now when exactly, but there were a lot of situations. It’s not important. A situation where Mo Salah is fouled and doesn’t get even a free-kick, so you can obviously do everything with Mo on the pitch like holding and stuff like this and he doesn’t get [a foul]. It’s nothing to do with the result, it’s just you asked me about the penalties. We got a penalty, we missed it. They help, if we deserve them, a team who is pretty dominant usually, and we are quite a lot in the opposition box, it was a strange thing that we didn’t have one. Now we had one and missed it, so end of that story.

On whether he is concerned by his team’s away record this season...

Concerned, yeah, I see it. I think with the home games we are top four, if I’m right. With the away games we are not even in Europe. There is always a reason for the situation you are in and our away record is for sure [one of them]. We could have had more points at home as well – or maybe should have. Away, definitely. It was a big strength of us in the last years, it made a real difference between, but that’s how it is when you are successful, when you do the things consistently in the right way, with the quality we have, we have a good chance to win away or get away results as well. This season not often enough. It’s a clear point, to be honest.

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