Jurgen Klopp: “We could have closed the game earlier, but we defended well.”

Jurgen Klopp hailed the performances of both attack and defence as Liverpool sealed a professional 2-0 win at St Mary’s over a struggling Southampton side.

Roberto Firmino opened the scoring after 5 minutes after being played in by Mo Salah, before the favour was returned just before half time as the Egyptian netted his 29th goal in all competitions this season, to the delight of Jurgen Klopp.

The boss was understandably happy with the performance, but spoke about how it could have been better also.

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – Sunday, February 11, 2018: Liverpool’s manager Jürgen Klopp reacts during the FA Premier League match between Southampton FC and Liverpool FC at St. Mary’s Stadium. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Klopp: “Mature performance. We knew about Southampton’s strength. The rhythm wasn’t too good, really fast or really slow. We scored wonderful goals and could have scored more in the second half. But Southampton did well, but we deserved three points.”

Klopp heaped praise on the performances of Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino, especially for the first goal that the duo combined for.

READ MORE: Salah: “Everyone performed very well today.”

Klopp: “The first was brilliant timing. But the goal itself was brilliant with the counter-break and I don’t think you can play much better than Roberto or Mo in that moment.”

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – Sunday, February 11, 2018: Liverpool’s manager Jürgen Klopp reacts during the FA Premier League match between Southampton FC and Liverpool FC at St. Mary’s Stadium. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Liverpool needed to defend for periods of the first half, and held firm with excellent performances by Virgil Van Dijk and Loris Karius. And the boss was quick to point out the sides defensive showing today also.

Klopp: “We could have closed the game earlier, but we defended well. Loris had another brilliant performance. All good.”

Liverpool now travel to Portugal on Wednesday night for the last 16 tie in the Champions League against Porto, before a ten day break awaits before the next home game in the league against West Ham United.

The post Jurgen Klopp: “We could have closed the game earlier, but we defended well.” appeared first on AnfieldHQ.

Source: anfieldhq.com