Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp says how his team defended against Manchester City “was really good”.
The Reds earned a 1-1 draw away to Pep Guardiola’s side after Mohamed Salah gave them the lead through an early penalty. Gabriel Jesus then equalised for City before Kevin De Bruyne missed a penalty shortly before half time.
The result leaves Liverpool third in the table, one point behind leaders Leicester City and five points ahead of Manchester City who are all the way down in tenth place.
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com this week, Klopp admitted to being happy to come through such a hectic few weeks unbeaten.
“Look, in the Premier League all opponents are tricky to play, unbelievable, so I don’t make really these kind of assumptions or think, ‘OK, we played them already and we played them already’.
“We have to play them again and wherever it is it will be difficult. It’s a tough period and for the boys, it just goes on. They go now and play two, some of them three, games for their national teams and yeah, it’s a tough time.
“That’s why we have to make sure with the boys [that] we give them time, at least a few days when we can do it, to recover. Apart from that, the boys were ready to go again [against City] and I couldn’t be more happy about that.”
Liverpool have lost just once in the league this season, the 7-2 hammering suffered at Aston Villa. They are unbeaten since losing powerhouse Virgil van Dijk to an ACL injury which is likely to keep him out for the rest of the campaign.
Klopp gave his thoughts on the high standard of football on show in the City clash and claimed The Reds’ defending – with a returning Joël Matip at the heart of the back four alongside Joe Gomez – had made him very happy.
“Top game. Top, top level [from] both teams. Energy level outstanding from both teams, two really good football-playing sides battle against each other. It was outstandingly interesting to watch.
“I loved our start, obviously we played a different system and you saw that in the game – in moments we had still to adapt to it. We had two days’ time to work on it, we did that but in the end, under pressure from a proper opponent, it’s slightly different. But the boys did incredibly well, I liked really a lot of situations, a lot of football parts, how we defended City was really good.
“They had their 10 minutes when we weren’t as compact as necessary after the quick start. That’s where they came back, that’s the quality of City, but then it was again equal or level or whatever you want. So, I’m really fine with a point.”
Liverpool have another huge game to look forward to when this international break is over. Klopp’s men welcome league-leaders Leicester City to Anfield upon their return.
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