Jurgen Klopp unhappy with 'unacceptable' Liverpool defending and gives four players pass marks in Man City humbling
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ByEurosport
Updated 02/04/2023 at 00:13 GMT
Liverpool's defending was 'unacceptable' in their 4-1 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday, says manager Jurgen Klopp. The Reds went ahead through Mohamed Salah but collapsed as Julian Alvarez, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish scored to turn the game around. Klopp gave pass marks to just four of his players ahead of their trip to Chelsea on Tuesday.
Klopp says Liverpool were 'lucky' not to concede more at Etihad
Jurgen Klopp blasted his Liverpool players for an ‘unacceptable’ performance and said only four of them put in a passable display as they were thrashed 4-1 by Manchester City.
Mohamed Salah fired The Reds into an early lead at the Etihad, but Julian Alvarez equalised before half-time and strikes from Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish completed the turnaround after the break.
Klopp, whose side have dropped to eighth in the Premier League standings, was particularly unhappy with the manner in which De Bruyne and Gundogan struck in the space of seven minutes at the start of the second half.
“Coming out after half time and conceding two quick goals broke everything down,” Klopp told the BBC. "The goals, how we conceded is difficult to accept - we didn't put in a challenge for either. That's absolutely not acceptable to be honest.
“City were completely in control after that, we were open, and they could do whatever they wanted. That they only scored one more goal is well, thank you.
"It could've been different and that's really bad news for us.
"In the end, we had moments but in general how we lost everything, unacceptable. 3-1 down is difficult here but there was nothing more there, four-ish players had an OK game and the rest were somewhere I don't know.”
Liverpool will have to dust themselves down quickly, as they travel to London to face Chelsea on Tuesday before a clash with league leaders Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday in a testing week for The Reds.
“Three days and we play again against another strong team. Tomorrow is a big day for us because we have to work with what we saw today because we see it more often now,” Klopp continued.
The German added to BT Sport: “This is a game we have to use unfortunately and make clear which things cannot happen.
“We cannot not have challenges in key areas or be that open. Now I stand here and have to explain it but I cannot explain it.
"I cannot change it now, here, I can just report what I saw and we will talk about it tomorrow. These things happened too often."
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