Tottenham 0-1 Liverpool: Jürgen Klopp's reaction
Jürgen Klopp felt Liverpool merited their victory after overcoming Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in an 'intense' Premier League clash in north London.
Roberto Firmino’s composed finish shortly before half-time settled Saturday’s match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – and saw the Reds break yet more new ground in what has been a near-flawless season so far.
Leicester City’s defeat earlier on Saturday means Klopp’s side’s latest success further lengthened their commanding advantage at the summit of the table.
Read on for a summary of the boss’ post-match press conference…
On the victory and how Liverpool had to obtain it…
We had to play for it – and in the end we had to fight for it, really hard. We could have closed this game earlier. We should have, I would say; the chances were clear. We had moments when we didn’t make chances, but they were ones I would say usually would have to be a 100 per cent chance. I think we played some exceptional football to bring Robbo on the touchline but then we didn’t find the free player or the defender blocked the last ball. We could have done better in these moments, but then it was only 1-0 and that’s normal. Against a team like Tottenham, it is not decided and in the end we needed luck in one situation and Ali in two other three other situations. Until 72 or 73 minutes, I think, we had 77-80 per cent possession, so it is a big challenge to come here and have that amount of possession knowing about the counter-attacking quality of these players on the pitch. It was intense, really, but I think we deserved the three points. It was not our best game we played so far, but it was a very good one and, as I said, [we played] really good football in a lot of parts of the game and in the end a proper fight. All good.
On Firmino’s performance and decisive goal…
When I went to him and wanted to give him a hug after the game, he wanted to stop and talk first. He said, ‘I know I should have scored more goals’... it was absolutely not what I wanted to say! It is true probably, but I didn’t even know exactly. He should have immediately with the first chance: it was brilliant play and then he hits somehow the goalkeeper and Oxlade hits the post. Yes, [he is] a super player, super. I don’t say this for the first time and will hopefully not say it for the last time. Pretty impressive.
On Liverpool’s record points total after 21 league games…
Look, I really try to respond in an appropriate way, but when somebody told me I didn’t feel anything. It is just not like that. I am in football for 50 years or so and if somebody would have told me that would ever happen I would probably have said it’s not possible. Now it happened I don’t feel [anything]. I don’t know exactly what is wrong with me, but it’s really cool and it’s exceptional. I told the boys, we made kind of an analysis after the game, what we should have done better, what we could have done better but of course I know if it would be easy to have that kind of winning streak then so many more teams would have done it. It’s obviously very exceptional but we didn’t think for a second before the game, I didn’t, and after the game somebody had to remind me about it. It’s obviously exceptional but if it stays like this then I can think about it in the next five years, after five years or so.
In the moment, I can just say what we try to do with all we have is still to create the basis for the rest of the season. The rest of the season is still quite long and we have a lot of tough games to play, the next one especially tough and we have to make sure we are ready for that. Today it was difficult, we made it a bit too difficult for ourselves because we didn’t finish it off, but not to forget or to underestimate the quality of the other team. It’s normal that they come back in the game like this and I am really happy. And I have to say, this stadium is something else. Thank you very much to whoever built this stadium that the away dressing room is probably the best in the league – thank you very much that somebody started that because other clubs, when they renovate their stadium, make the away dressing room smaller. This is exceptional, thank you very much.