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Jurgen Klopp gave his reaction after Liverpool dramatically secured three points against Tottenham at Anfield.
The Reds found themselves 3-0 up after just 15 minutes and it looked like it could be an easy score for Klopp’s side. However, the Spurs bounced back and turned the game into an all-time classic.
Curtis Jones opened the scoring for Liverpool after Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered a perfect cross to the back post. Jones closed the chance to give the Reds a 1–0 lead after just three minutes.
Tottenham did not react and conceded a double just two minutes later through Luis Diaz. Cristian Romero brought down Mohamed Salah in the penalty area shortly after, who confidently converted the spot kick.
But Spurs started to fight back with a goal from Harry Kane in the 40th minute, giving his side some hope before the break.
After showing some character in the second half, Heung-Min Son made it 3-2 after beating Allisson one-on-one.
Then, it looked like Tottenham had completed their comeback in the closing moments of the game, with ex-Everton forward Richarlison scoring his first Premier League goal of the season in the 93rd minute.
However, the draw was not to be for Spurs, after Lucas Moura made a terrible mistake and played the ball directly into Diogo Jota’s path. Jota made no mistakes and regained the lead for Liverpool.
In his post-match interview, Klopp praised his players for their fantastic start but insisted his side had a lot to improve.
Talking with BBC Sports, he said: “Super start in the game, outstanding start in the game.
“Top performance, top performance in all areas of football. How we played, how we pressed, how we counterpressed, how we defended, how we reacted. 3-0, wow, what a game.
“The first moment we don’t defend properly the front row doesn’t react, the rest of the team is too deep and suddenly we have a one-on-one in the box where Virgil van Dijk slides. You have to avoid a decision where that situation can be.
“In the second half the match is open because they started to believe it or continued to believe it. We opened the door for them and it seemed like we pushed them a little further. The second goal they scored a situation that shouldn’t happen like this.
“The third goal, a free kick in the 92nd minute, always tricky. You want to avoid this kind of set pieces. But thank God, Diogo Jota saved us. Is fantastic.
“Development-wise, there are a lot of things to love about that game and a lot of things not to love. This is my life and the feeling is that I like the good parts so much that my feeling is that we can fix the other stuff.
“Are we down? Maybe yes. In the first 20 minutes I don’t know how they got on the ball. The best way to defend a counter-attack is to finish your situation, second best is to counter-press.
“If you do neither, then there is a counterattack. This is what they are playing for and this is why you have to do the right things.
“The problem is that in football there is one scoreboard [piece of] about 500.
“The only part we misunderstood is because we didn’t do the other 495 things and that’s enough for Tottenham to stay in the game. We gave them a lifeline and that’s why it happened.
«Before the match I would have taken every result and every performance to get the three points.»
Klopp appeared comically to pull his hamstring when celebrating the Jota winner but also got in the face of the referee on the sideline which he admitted he was wrong.
On this, he added: Goal: “I’m not sure whether it’s the hamstring could be the adductor but I was punished.
“Little sins right away. I turned around for the celebration because the fourth mate did nothing wrong the entire time. I didn’t say anything bad, I just gave a look that’s bad enough.
“The hamstring or whatever muscle gave out at the time. It’s right. Other than that, all good.”
Finally, when asked if Liverpool could still qualify for the Champions League, Klopp said: «Of course not.
“If United and Newcastle win every game, how can we get there? If they start losing them, we’re close. Until then we have to win football matches to qualify for Europe.
“Brighton played one of the best football matches this weekend I have ever seen in my life, I have to say, Roberto De Zerbi, wow. They are behind us with two games left. Aston Villa is developing. If we manage to keep them behind us it will already be a success”.
READ MORE: Richarlison Schadenfreude and Klopp’s hamstring were perfect end to Liverpool-Spurs chaos
