Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp believes he made a mistake by celebrating with his players after their fourth goal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday as the Reds won a thrilling seven-goal encounter against Arsenal.
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Klopp continued: “We were much better in the last 15 mins [of first half], then the wonderful goal of Phil”. We just need to be a little bit more streetwise there.
Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger in his post match interview on Sunday, admitted that he was disappointed at the psychological imbalance of his team after taking the lead against Liverpool through Theo Walcot.
“We had many players stay very late at the Euros – Aaron Ramsey, Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud, four players who went very late”. Football being football, we maybe got a bit complacent at 4-1 but saw it out at the end.
Centre back pairing Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista were also missing due to injuries picked up in pre-season, with the young duo of Calum Chambers and new signing Rob Holding forming the centre back partnership against Liverpool.
The Gunners star had been rushed back into action by Wenger despite the Wales midfielder’s lack of sharpness following this summer’s European Championships.
“We have to be ready next week because we go to Leicester”.
Wenger said: “We pushed players today like Ramsey”.
Whatever Klopp said to his players at the break seemed to work and they extended their advantage in the 56th minute with Coutinho converting Nathaniel Clyne’s low cross. “If they can not get that striker, they should play Alexis Sanchez with Olivier Giroud”. After suffering through a slow start to their last campaign, he hopes the win at the Emirates can push players to jump out to a more promising first month of the season.
‘It’s a very hard situation to sort out because the players come back late because of the Euros and, on top of that, you play them and they get injured.
The visitors held on, with Klopp acknowledging his side must make improvements, although it appears he would prefer to do that on the training ground than in the transfer market.
He said: “I am very happy to be at Liverpool”.
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“Arsenal are a top team, we’ve got a few new players in our squad, still gelling together and if we want to achieve something special this year we’re going to have to be more disciplined defensively as a unit”.
