Klopp happy to see Liverpool’s Cardiff preparations pay off

Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Sadio Mane’s first goal against Cardiff City on Saturday was the product of much pre-match preparation and perseverance.

The Senegalese attacker scored a blistering left-footed strike in the second half to put Liverpool 2-0 up against the Bluebirds.

His shot, however, only came after the Reds’ No.10 forced his way through Cardiff’s defence, refusing to give the ball up until he was able to go for goal.

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LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 27: Xherdan Shaqiri of Liverpool celebrates after scoring his team’s third goal during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Cardiff City at Anfield on October 27, 2018 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

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And Klopp was pleased to see his players put his managerial instructions into action against Neil Warnock’s side.

“Yes, absolutely. It was like this and you have to do it like this,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.

“It’s like a whole counter-press situation: lose the ball, get it back, shoot and fire in, so that’s really good. We had these situations against Belgrade [and] you need that. You need that constantly, actually.

“You need to play the pass with the risk to lose it. If you lose it you can win it back and then you have a gap at least for a second or so. To create a gap in a game like this you need kind of 10, 15 passes.

“We did that in a lot of moments really well. I don’t know the percentage of possession but it should be massive as they didn’t have the ball a lot. That’s what we prepared and I’m really happy.”

The Reds next take on Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday evening.

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Source: anfieldhq.com