Klopp Talk: “What a Game, What an Opponent”

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The manager praises Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds after a wild Premier League opener.

Well, nothing like a 4-3 to quicken the pulses at the start of the season.

It was always going to be a frantic affair, this one. Marcelo Bielsa has built a thrilling Leeds United side capable of moving the ball from back to front at incredible speed. There’s never a dull moment with that lot. And Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool? Well, I think you already know about them.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone in the slightest that Klopp admires what Bielsa is doing in Yorkshire and he was quick to praise the Argentine after the win yesterday.

“I congratulated everyone of their team, what a team they are”, Klopp told Sky Sports. “Unbelievable. I will watch them quite often during the season.

“What a game, what an opponent, what a performance from both teams. A proper spectacle, I loved that.

“It is pretty rare you see that many goals in a game, we have left space for improvement in our defending but that is not unusual for a first game. Our players have played a few days ago for their countries so it is possible.

“The opponent forced us to make mistakes, we can do better, we will do better but I loved a lot about the game against a well-organised, passionate side like Leeds. We used our skills to cause them problems, we could have scored more and in the end we used set-pieces which is fine by me.

“It is not like riding a bike, you can lose something in pre-season and it takes time to all come together again. I am really positive about this game. Leeds will have a good season if they can keep up that intensity and they did it in the Championship with more games so why not?”

Why not indeed? I can think of at least one team that has kept up astonishing levels of intensity for an extended period. Same again, please.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com