Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has admitted Nottingham Forest left his top-six hopefuls in a ‘proper mess’ at Anfield before edging a 3-2 victory on Saturday. A brace by Diogo Jota and a goal from Mohamed Salah secured all three points for Klopp’s men, despite Forest twice drawing level through Neco Williams and Morgan Gibbs-White. The result extends the Reds’ awful away record of just one win on the road all season – but a key tactic repeatedly had the hosts on the back foot, as Klopp explained.
Jurgen Klopp said: “Yes (Forest made us work hard for that), especially when the ball was out. Throw-ins created a proper mess for us. You can prepare for a lot in football… but for this kind of thing obviously we were not prepared well enough because we knew about the threat. Niakhate has the ball and throws it into the box. The first ball we could have defended better I think. Ibou Konate was a bit too much in a fight with whoever was around him, but how he dealt with the second ball, the third ball and the fourth ball was actually not even close to being good enough because they won all of them and always put the ball back into an area. That in the end caused us massive problems. I think especially the second goal they scored, we should have (cleared it). As a player who is not directly involved, you need to read the situation better. There is one who fights for the ball and all the rest have to pick up where the next potential threat is. That was not good enough.”
Steve Cooper’s team are now second from bottom with just six games left to secure their top-flight status. They are next in action against Brighton at the City Ground on Wednesday, 26 April (kick-off, 7:30 pm).
