Jürgen Klopp: Huddersfield win is very, very important for us

Mohamed Salah’s missed penalty was the closest the Reds came to breaking the deadlock in the opening 45 minutes as the Terriers proved stubborn opponents.

However, Daniel Sturridge’s close-range strike gave the hosts the lead moments after the restart and paved the way for Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum to also notch and secure a vital three points.

Afterwards, Klopp spoke of his satisfaction at his side’s display following the break as he addressed journalists in his post-match press conference. Read on for a summary of what he had to say…

On his reaction to Liverpool’s win and performance…

We had not the best week as you can imagine - it’s not that we don’t take the situation really seriously, it’s really important for us. Tottenham was the worst game we’ve played in this season so far and you cannot ignore it, but you have to work with it and that’s what we did. It can happen, especially with the style Huddersfield played today - a rather defensive style and we were a little bit stiff. It was not fluent, we had too many players behind the ball, it was clear we wanted to give them no opportunity for counter-attack and stuff like this, but you don’t need seven players behind the ball to protect the counter-attack. That’s how it looked a little bit in the first half, so it was not too difficult to fix at half-time.

We [worked on] it during the week already; the positioning where we have to be so it’s more difficult for any opponent to defend it. You could see immediately in the second half really, we had more players between the decisive lines and so it was more difficult for Huddersfield to defend.

The first goal was of course Smith with the header, but we forced the situation with the pass and the positioning of Roberto and Daniel. The second one after a set-piece felt like Christmas and all the other nice events together because we scored after a set-piece! We had a lot of good set-pieces today. Then the third one was nice play.

We had more chances, but it’s a big relief, to be honest, because the pressure was there. There is no doubt about that. I could hear that people didn’t like the first half too much, I know it’s hard work but in the end probably nobody remembers the first half because the second half was really much better. It helped a lot today - three goals, three points, clean sheet, very, very important.

On whether he thinks Huddersfield can stay in the Premier League…

One hundred per cent. I don’t want to put pressure on the boys but their mentality, attitude, style of play, quality… they have everything that you need, but in the end you also need luck, that’s how it is. There will be a few close games. I saw the Swansea game when we did the analysis; Swansea were not better that day, Huddersfield were really brave, played football and Swansea were in a pressing mood I would say. The two goals were from pressing, but they [Huddersfield] had chances. But yes, the potential is for sure there and that’s already the best news you can get. They will stay in the league without points from Liverpool!

On why he originally elected to keep the same back five as at Tottenham…

I thought it made sense. That was the reason, it was the only reason why we did it. If something doesn’t work you can change everything or you can stick to what you did before. I was convinced before the Tottenham game that these boys are the right ones and I will not change after one very bad performance, so I am not that confused. Then we had to change [because of Lovren’s injury] and you could see Raggy needed a little bit to find in the game; it was very difficult for him, two minutes before we went in with the squad [he needed to play] and it was not a real warm-up for him as a sub, they are not in the mood to start in the next second. In the first half, he struggled a little bit but in the second half he was really good. Good news for us.

On Dejan Lovren’s injury…

It was the last pass. Maybe you saw it. Joel and Dejan were exchanging passes and then in the last one, he felt something in the muscle. I don’t know exactly, we had no time - the only question I asked in the treatment room was, ‘Yes or no?’ and I got a no and then we changed. It is his thigh.

On Liverpool’s position in the Premier League table…

Obviously we are not in that good a position but in our season - [and] I don’t have to explain it again and again and again - we had much more good games than everyone can see when you look at our points. But we had one really bad one and the whole world watched it against Tottenham. We don’t ignore the performances before and we don’t ignore the Tottenham game.

Today it was really difficult for us to stay patient enough, to do the right things in the right moment. Huddersfield played like they played against United and they were really successful in that game, so it could have been possible they are successful here like this. It was really difficult to play and the counter-attacks you have to avoid - but we avoided them and that was what the boys did really well so I am happy about that. I don’t even know in which position we are, but obviously it’s not good.