Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp has slammed his Reds for a “frustrating” performance in their 3-0 Premier League defeat at Wolves.
A fifth minute own goal from Joel Matip and Craig Dawson’s 12th minute header left Liverpool in serious trouble at Molineux, in which their misery was compounded by Ruben Neves’ 71st minute strike to wrap up a surprise home win for Wolves.
For Liverpool, it marked their first league defeat away at Molineux since a 1-0 loss in August 1981, abeit in the Old First Division, plus saw them slip to 10th after Chelsea had climbed above them with a goalless draw at home to Fulham on Friday (3 February).
Speaking post-match after their defeat yesterday (4 February), Klopp described the performance as “very frustrating,” with a “horrible, absolutely horrible” defensive effort which he summed up as “very disappointing.”
Klopp proceeded to criticise his team for manging to concede two goals in the space of seven minutes before producing a steady performance, as he commented: “The first 12 minutes, 2-0 down, is absolutely never helpful, but especially in our situation. It is absolutely not allowed to happen.
“Not for being passive, not for doing what we did in these moments. So, we saw different games today – all in one. The first 12 minutes, then an OK away performance where we created, we were there, that was absolutely OK.”
There however was a small positive in how they responded in the second half before Neves snatched Wolves’ third goal, as Klopp admitted that his Reds played “extremely well” in the 25 minutes after half-time.
Klopp nevertheless apologised to travelling supporters for enduring a shock “misery” of the opening 12 minutes which cost them the game, as he iterated that their poor defending is “really tough to swallow.”
Reflecting on the season so far in which they’ve struggled with injuries to key players like Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Roberto Firmino, Klopp described their slow starts as “the pinnacle of our problems…” which was their downfall at Molineux.
Klopp though insisted that the players had worked in training this week to improve their starts following a shock FA Cup exit last weekend at Brighton, leaving the German feeling that their eventual performance is “really hard to take,” ahead of next weekend’s Merseyside derby.
The ex Borussia Dortmund manager, also noted that Wolves ultimately were better, as he added: “Wolves were clearly the better side for 12 minutes and maybe the last 10 minutes when they were 3-0 up and the ball was then their friend again, but in between we were really in the game.”