The home side produced a breakthrough late in the first half against neighbours Everton, with Mohamed Salah’s sublime curler lifting Anfield three minutes before half-time.
But the Reds were unable to find a second and the visitors restored parity via a Wayne Rooney penalty after Dejan Lovren was judged to have pushed Dominic Calvert-Lewin inside the area.
Here is a summary of Klopp’s reaction to the 1-1 result in his post-match press conference…
LFCTV GO: Liverpool 1-1 Everton
On how frustrated he is by the final outcome…
Very. I thought we did everything to win the game. If somebody would have thought after our last game that we would try to play a little bit of football, then I think everybody saw that the attitude of the boys was outstanding, outstanding tonight; absolutely spot-on, ready for every challenge, ready for everything and playing football against a deep, deeper defending team. We forced them into their own box, had our moments. It’s difficult to score a lot, especially when the opponent doesn’t change their style or whatever after they are 1-0 down. That doesn’t make it easier. But we controlled the game apart from one situation – and this situation decided the game at the end. That’s what we have to accept.
On the decision to award Everton a penalty…
I don’t think it was a penalty. It is like it is. We have to take it. If you all think it is a penalty, then all the other challenges in midfield between Williams and Dom Solanke should have been a free-kick. They weren’t free-kicks but this was a penalty. That’s how it is. We have to take that. In the last moment, for me, Calvert-Lewin makes the step in the way of Dejan Lovren but he doesn’t push him or anything, it’s just body contact. That’s how it was in midfield 60 or 70 times, no free-kick there. We have to take that. We didn’t get a red card at Stoke which we should have got. Today, it’s a penalty which was not a penalty. It was so close before the end of the game, so that’s how it feels. You asked me how I feel – I told you. That will not change anything.
On whether he felt it was still the correct decision to make six changes…
I thought before the game, yes. Still yes, even when the result doesn’t show it. We did it in the last six or seven weeks. We do it like this. I’ve said it here, I’ve said it to the boys already, we can change as much as we want when we win the games, but when we don’t win the games I take the blame. I have no problem with that. The boys who came in were fresh and did a brilliant job; they played, they worked hard. We worked hard, it was a derby, we accepted it, we took it as a derby, it’s a fight. You need to be ready for each challenge – and we were ready for each challenge. We tried everything. We could have scored, we had clear chances, half-chances – we had everything you need but we didn’t use it, that’s how it is and we know that. It was always clear a day like this could happen – we wanted to win 1-0 and we didn’t.
On Everton’s approach…
I respect that, no problem. I was really happy with the performance of the team, that’s how it is. They played well. Can they play better? Yes. But it’s an intense time. Ask everybody who played during the week, it’s intense what we’re doing, so that’s why we made changes. We thought we needed fresh legs – that’s what we had and we could have won it. We didn’t, so – as I said – blame me.