The Reds suffered defeat after Mario Lemina’s first-half strike was enough to settle the outcome on Merseyside in favour of the visitors.
Read on for a summary of Klopp’s post-match press conference…
On whether the performance was good enough or not…
It was not good enough. Conceded a goal, didn’t score, lost the game. It was not good enough.
On how he explains the performance…
I had a few interviews and tried to explain it. We had to make some changes and wanted to make some more, and it is then clear that it takes a little bit of time to adapt - especially when you know that Fulham is in a really good moment and is anyway a good football-playing side. So that was clear. We started OK with our direction, especially when we sent Mo in behind. We had there moments, didn’t use them, they had their moments when they played behind our last line, of course, but we didn’t concede a goal [then]. We conceded a goal in the moment when obviously we didn’t expect it and it was only a few minutes before half-time. But we got then more and more used to each other and played some good stuff, created chances, had chances, didn’t score. Then the longer the game goes, obviously in our situation it’s not that you get stronger and stronger and stronger. It gets a little bit lesser again and that’s why we lost.
On where the result leaves Liverpool’s hopes of a top-four finish…
You can imagine that is really not my concern in the moment. I understand that you have to ask that but I cannot think about that. We have to win football games, we have to win one football game, that would be helpful already and then we will see [with] the rest.
On Harrison Reed’s post-match remark that Fulham’s players ‘wanted it more’…
I got this question already… the winner is always right, but I don’t see that problem. But I don’t know how much Fulham wanted it, but it’s normal - I was there myself, when you win in a situation like Fulham you say these kind of things. That’s now not my problem in the moment. My boys want to win football games, I know that. We got enough knocks to make it clear that we really want it with all we have. We couldn’t do it, that’s the problem. But when he says that, the winner is always right.
On the team’s current mentality in responding to setbacks…
In the game, the reaction football-wise was kind of OK. We obviously have a lot of players who stand for mentality not on the pitch in the moment, who can be like a leader in these moments and stuff like that. That’s clear. Again, I try to answer all the questions, the thing is just we got that many knocks; you can want to win a game because you won all the others before, or you want to win a game because it is a while ago that you won a game, that is more our situation. Believe me, these boys want [it] but it doesn’t work in the moment and there are some reasons for it: we don’t score goals and we concede at least one, which in the moment looks like it is enough against us. You can discuss whatever you want, obviously, I cannot just answer and say, ‘Yeah, we don’t have mentality.’ We have mentality, it’s just not the mentality we are used to probably, but the boys want to win games.
They wanted to win this game today. I saw that. We made mistakes still, that’s the problem, but that’s not about you don’t want it - the boys don’t want to make mistakes, we just made them. We have to make sure the mistakes we make are not accountable anymore, so like you can concede a goal - we conceded goals in our best phases, the best periods of our lives, but the only thing is then you are not bothered about it. That’s where we have to come. We have really tight results in the moment, pretty much always against us, and we have to make sure we win football games again. If it’s a 1-0, it’s fine, fight for it with all you have and then you can gain confidence and momentum maybe again. In the moment we don’t have that.
On whether getting players back from injury is key to ending the current run of form…
For winning one football game, no. For being the successful team again, for being the team we can be in the best possible way, of course we have to be complete. More complete than we are in the moment, that’s all clear, but that’s not what we are thinking about in the moment. We really think from game to game and when you are winning then people think, ‘Why do you say that all the time?’ but that’s the only way. You have to think and to concentrate and focus on the next game and to go again. The next game is in a different competition where we didn’t too bad so far, but it will be a tough one, obviously, so we have to make sure we are ready for that. If we can go through, which is not guaranteed, then that could give confidence. Then we have Wolves, which is a tough one and then we have a couple of weeks off because of the Chelsea game and the international break and all these kind of things. We have to use that time, we have to hope all the boys who go to their national teams come back healthy, like always. Then I think there are another nine or 10 games to go, sounds like 27 or 30 points, so a lot to go for and we will try.