Jurgen Klopp praised the reaction of his Liverpool players after another controversial VAR decision threatened their Premier League revival. The Reds were denied what they were convinced was an opening goal for Darwin Nunez midway through the second half of their clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield on Wednesday. Diogo Jota was ultimately adjudged to have fouled Nelson Semedo in the build-up to the strike after referee Paul Tierney was advised to consult his pitchside monitor. Liverpool, though, responded with Virgil van Dijk scoring seven minutes later with a close range header before Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 triumph with his 20th goal of the season shortly afterwards.
Jurgen Klopp said: “For the disallowed goal, if you see it back a couple of times in slow motion you see contact, but I still think it was a goal. That’s not important any more. But the players don’t have a replay and for them it was a clear goal and you then have to react. I wasn’t worried, but of course when you see who the boys react it was really good. The goal, Virg could already have scored but it was a top situation from Diogo (Jota) and a really nice goal. The second goal was exceptional play, a really good counter-attack where each pass was perfect, and then we controlled the game again.”
Liverpool have taken 10 points from the last 12 in the Premier League while keeping four successive top-flight clean sheets for the first time since April last year. Klopp’s side once again moved within six points of the top four with a game in hand and have edged into sixth place and the European qualification places.
Jurgen Klopp added: “I thought the whole story of the game is an important one for us to take. We did a lot of good stuff in the first half, played the way we have to play but didn’t create many chances. There were a few minutes where we looked a bit in a rush because it didn’t happen yet, but we calmed down and found patience again and played in the right way. Second half, around the disallowed goal we had already increased the pressure and direction was good. We had a couple of really good situations. It was a good performance from us and a really important one. To get a clean sheet is extremely helpful. These are all positives for us.”
