However, the Reds suffered a 2-0 defeat against Newcastle United yesterday, failing to capitalise on sides above them dropping points.
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Centre-half Martin Skrtel diverted Wijnaldum’s second-half shot beyond helpless Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, while the Dutchman, who cost £14.5m from PSV Eindhoven in the summer, deftly secured victory in injury time.
Klopp said: “Everything is usually OK, this team has big quality and we know we like to work together”.
“If you think after a few weeks everything is flawless, it’s a little bit insane, no?” the German told his post-match press conference.
“I didn’t hear anybody on this side of the table talk about this!”
A poor refereeing decision saw an exquisite volleyed equaliser from Alberto Moreno wrongly ruled out for offside as the game entered its final stages, Klopp later lamenting: “It was a clear goal, I saw it. No problem”. I didn’t [make claims] before, so why should I explain now? We feel this defeat. “Everyone knows it is a tough job, but we are here to do that job”.
“I hope some people did something better on this Sunday than watching this game”.
“But for me I don’t care if I score or don’t score in some games”. We didn’t play any counter-pressing – the pressing wasn’t good.
Liverpool’s basic stats against Newcastle – their total distance covered and number of sprints – were typical of the kind of figures we have seen in some of their impressive wins under Klopp, but something was clearly missing from their performance, and it started up front.
Newcastle offered the ideal response for under-fire boss Steve McClaren following the 5-1 loss at Crystal Palace and they only remain inside the relegation zone on goal difference. They way they combined in the end proved that they were the catalyst to what was a great result. I think things will look up there, I really do’.
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We made our goal, but because we weren’t good enough, the linesman thought, ‘don’t make world-class goals if you play this s***’. It was a case of people outrunning opponents. “The December period, there are a lot of games coming up, so we’ve all got to be fit and raring to go and keep the confidence going into those games to try and get as many as we can”.
