Jurgen Klopp Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp believes the sending off of Reece James “spoiled the game” as Liverpool were forced to rue a home draw with 10-man Chelsea. The visitors took the lead through Kai Havertz’s looping header before the Reds were given a chance to get back into the game from the penalty spot towards the end of the first half. After Sadio Mane’s goal-bound prod was handled on the line by James, referee Anthony Taylor sent off the right-back following a check on the pitch-side monitors at Anfield. Klopp said he would have preferred to have seen the game remain even as he was left to reflect on a frustrating point having played the entirety of the second period with a man extra.
Jurgen Klopp said: “I never like the double punishment, but if someone ever listened to me about the rule changes or rules, then a lot of things would look completely different, but they still look like they look. It was absolutely harsh and yes and spoiled the game, probably. I liked our first half and we caused Chelsea problems and we caused them problems in the second half as well, it was incredible intensity for Chelsea too. But they did well and that’s why they deserved the point, obviously, but I would have loved to have seen the game stay in an 11 versus 11 situation. Let’s have a look and see who comes through better. That’s how it is.”
Despite the draw against the 10 men, Klopp was pleased with what he saw at times from his charges and admitted he was expecting Chelsea to be a tough nut to crack once they had retreated into their defensive setup to preserve the point after the restart.
Jurgen Klopp added: “I liked the game, but look, a few years ago, we won 2-0 against Chelsea and Mohamed Salah fired the ball into the far corner, which was actually not a chance, but a nice goal. Today we had bigger chances in the first half which we didn’t score from, but the performance was really good against the strongest Chelsea side for a long, long time. It was always difficult against Chelsea and now it is difficult too but I was really happy with the first half. The second half, I am not someone who watches football from time to time and thinks: ‘ah 10 versus 11? that must be easy.’ I have watched five million games to know that is not easy, especially against a quality side like Chelsea with the defensive capabilities they have and now with the job to just defend in and around the box, more or less. It was tricky, we could have done better for sure but it was just early in the season and we needed the one moment to get through to finish it off, we had our finishers [on the pitch], we had good football moments and we defended their potential counter-attacks really well. Chelsea put a proper shift in as well, you have to say that, and I respect that. We just take the point and we carry on.”
