Jurgen Klopp has revealed Liverpool’s players were far from happy in the dressing room at half-time against Aston Villa before coming from behind to beat Dean Smith’s side. Klopp’s side went onto to claim all three points with two goals in the second half but the German head coach admitted the decision aggravated his side.
Jurgen Klopp said: “We dominated the game but we made one mistake and concede a goal. Then we score the equaliser but it’s ruled out for offside. At half-time it wasn’t the best mood, you can imagine but the words were OK.”
But Liverpool recovered from the setback to turned the game on its head, first Mo Salah drawing them level before Trent Alexander-Arnold downed Villa with a stoppage-time winner.
Jurgen Klopp added: “I didn’t have to lift them too much, they knew if we continue to play like we did we would create chances again. We dealt with their game really good. It was massive, it felt massive to win. A real relief. We were there, we defended well, we were constantly in the creating mood without having 20 clear-cut chances. We needed that win today, these three points feel big. We can stop that chat about Trent, everyone agrees that he is an outstanding player. It’s Gareth Southgate’s decision what he does for the squad but we don’t have to talk about it every week. We don’t have to justify the players’ status every week. We have to put the other teams under pressure. Everyone knows that when we get on a run we are dangerous.”
Villa have slipped to 10th place in the table with Leeds United having beaten Manchester City earlier on Saturday, while Liverpool are now back in the top six.
