Klopp Talk: Arsenal Performance “Full of Power, Energy, Greed and Passion

Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Liverpool are good.

Liverpool put in their best performance of the season at home to Arsenal yesterday. This was, save a couple of shaky moments, about as good as it gets from the reds. The whole game was played in Arsenal’s half. It was pure domination. Obviously, the manager was delighted.

“It was a brilliant game from my side so early in the season,” the Liverpool Echo report Klopp as saying. “It was outstanding.

“It was a performance full of power, energy, greed and passion, which I think you need to have against a team like Arsenal.

“I was really happy with a lot of parts for the game. Everything we did well in the first four games we did well for longer, more precise and better tuned, and it made us really uncomfortable to play against. That’s what we wanted.”

Speaking more specifically about the opponent, Klopp added that “to be honest, I didn’t expect the system [Arsenal] played. They didn’t play it in pre-season.

“It means we had a lot of space on the wings, the only problem was the movement in the box could have made it more tricky for the defending side.

“They won a lot of those challenges in the air. We won a lot of second balls and put them constantly under pressure without having the outcome we wanted.”

“We deserved the first goal. I don’t know how many people were holding [Virgil van Dijk] at that moment, it looked like they build something around him, but Joel was there, big Joel makes the fantastic goal,” said Klopp.

“Second half, the clear penalty, the team played nice passes and we were there for a lot of good moments.

“You need the decisive moments, the penalty was nicely taken, and the third goal is just incredible, a really, really good goal.”

“It’s always dangerous if you miss one ball like [Jordan Henderson] did in that one situation, with the speed they have they are in the situation they wanted,” he said.

“Adrian reacted brilliantly in that moment. There was a shot from Pepe which was a big one, he could have scored, but we had much more of the game.

“You can’t avoid these situations against Arsenal 100% with their quality, you need a goalie or a block. But we didn’t need that too much.”

Liverpool are better at football than Arsenal. That’s all there is to it. We had better players, we played better football, we won the game. Sometimes it’s just that simple.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com