Klopp Talk: We Have to Defend Better

The manager talks frustrations on a disappointing night

Well if we had to pick a game for the first loss of the season, I suppose we would’ve chosen this one.

Liverpool are out of the famous [insert sponsor here] Cup. Chelsea are into the next round of the Carabao at our expense, thanks to one questionably onside goal and another stunning strike from Eden Hazard. Liverpool did look strong for long periods of the game, but in truth neither side played especially well. It is what it is, and we can all hope for and expect a much stronger performance away to Stamford Bridge when we face Chelsea once again in the Premier League this weekend.

Jurgen Klopp, as one would expect, had some frustrations.

“We knew how Chelsea wanted to play but we gave them too much space and weren’t compact enough”, Klopp told Sky Sports, as reported by BBC Sport. “We still had the bigger chances in the first half.

“This is good preparation for [the league fixture against Chelsea on] Saturday but we have to defend better”.

Talking of Chelsea’s first goal, in which the free kick was debatable and then the equaliser itself was possibly offside, Klopp added that “I don’t think [it was a free kick]. The linesman is in a really good position. There was so much in the game. Unfortunately in the end we have to take it. We wanted to win it, we feel unlucky, we hit the bar.

“I think the first goal is offside. Three players are offside - two for sure. They watched it and didn’t think it was offside. We have to take it”.

Decisions like these are always highly subjective, and even with VAR used it was still unclear whether the goal was offside. These are always the things that go against you when you lose tight games. The important game to Chelsea is to come, and this will all be forgotten if we win at the weekend.

Onwards and upwards.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com