THE Luis Dias came off the bench and equalized with a header in the 95th minute, gifting to Liverpool a point from the away match against Luton for their 11th matchday Premier League.
At the end of the match, Jurgen Klopp stated the following:
“Strange game. Strange feeling after the game. I think we should have won, but I think a draw is the deserved result – and we could have lost, so it is. Credit to Luton, they did really well but even with all they did we created chances and didn’t finish them with the last bit of conviction to be 100% honest. We weren’t cool enough in those moments. We should have scored and we should have created, but first of all it was OK – we created probably enough, just put one or two to bed and it’s fine and you win 1-0 or 2-0. Absolutely fine, no one won here with a crazy result and I knew why before, but now I felt it: they are doing really well.
But what I didn’t like, especially in the first half, was that we were 0.0 [τοις εκατό] counter-pressing and that’s something I take personally, to be honest. I told the guys, it’s not okay, but because I know they really want to do it, the question then is why didn’t they do it? So I have to figure this out. But I will, it’s not nuclear science probably, but that I have to watch it back. I have plenty of time for that.
I said to the lads at half-time, nice, nice, here nice, be calm, be patient, stay patient, things like that and then if we now put counter-pressing into it it would be very useful, because we have a lot more phases of possession, longer periods of possession, [και] they are less organized at these times. Then we all know, we’ve seen these games before, the situation doesn’t clear up with time. If we score a goal and then small gaps open up. With a 0-0 and Luton’s idea, which is fine and there’s no problem with that – set-pieces and counter-attacks – they stay in the game, so you have to make sure beforehand that they’re not in the game anymore, but they were in the game.
They had the counter-attack, they got the goal and I think everyone knows we should have won the ball – or we shouldn’t have lost it – on the 18m line. Then they scored, we equalized. I have a lot of respect for what they do, but the way they defend defensively in set-pieces… if you see it on replay, that’s a struggle. They’re not on edge, they’re on the wrong side, but they’re not getting punished, so why change it? So, okay. That was a bit of a debate around it, that we thought it could have been – not when they scored, but when Virgil’s opponent brought him down. I think it was a good wrestling score, not sure. That’s all”.
For Darwin Nunez: “Our five attacking players are all in the team, they are all in the team. We just have so many games that not all games can be played, so it is. One has a little problem and hopefully the other four will then be healthy and then we will find three of them who can start together and one will come in. And then we have young guys or Harvey (Elliott) can play there up front, different solutions. This is how things are for Darwin (Nunyes). So Darwin is 100% in the team, it’s just that sometimes you can’t start again, so that’s the way it is, but then you come in. The first chance he had was really good, great pass, first touch top notch and then he hits the post I think. And at other times it is exactly like that.
The whole team was in no mood to score today obviously and that doesn’t help. But Darwin, what really makes him different is that he’s involved in almost everything, so that’s a good thing. We are calm. Even when we should have finished better, but I don’t think our problem was really the finish. It was other things. We should have created more and then we would have finished one or two situations and I would have been absolutely fine with winning here 1-0, I would have been very, very happy. But that’s why we should have played better.”
Because it was Dias who equalized: “The fact that we have to talk about it, it’s wonderful, it’s emotional and it’s fantastic. But the real problem has not been solved. We wanted to give – and he wanted it too – to Loutsos (Dias) the opportunity to distract himself a little from other things. He can’t do nothing, he waits all the time, the whole family waits all the time. And so he trained now a few times with us and he was then in a good mood, and that’s good for him. I think the signs from Colombia are rather positive, optimistic, but what we all want to hear hasn’t happened yet. He didn’t train much and you don’t know exactly when you can bring him into the match. The game was obviously one where another attacking player would have made sense. If you bring him in with the quality he has and 15, 20 minutes, I don’t know exactly how much he played, and he scores the goal, so that’s great. That’s all”.
What he said to him after the match: “Actually, after the game there was no need for words. We just hugged. We know what it’s like – ok but desperate for the right news. That’s all. We’ve had moments like this before. I get 100% that it’s a nice story, honestly, and it’s super positive and great for him, but these things pass. The real information we need is a different information. That’s all. But whatever, it’s a very, very positive thing for him. But all the other problems remain the same.”
