JURGEN KLOPP REVEALED it was Daniel Sturridge’s decision to play the entirety of Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat at Swansea City, and he defended the striker for trudging straight down the tunnel after the final whistle.
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Villarreal have netted 11 goals in six away games in Europe this term and they have drawn only one blank; Liverpool, meantime, have kept only one clean-sheet in their last five at Anfield – I can not see Klopp’s team holding the visitors out and the concession of an away goal makes a comeback extremely hard.
Klopp named the youngest starting line-up in Liverpool’s Premier League history as he took the opportunity to rest key personnel ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Villarreal.
Ghana forward Ayew was on target either side of a wonderful strike from Jack Cork to move Swansea onto 43 points and guarantee they will be playing in the English top-flight next season.
Christian Benteke scored a header from a corner in the 65th before Ayew sealed the win two minutes later.
– Liverpool have now conceded 10 goals from corners in the Premier League this season, only Swansea have conceded more (14).
“He was not ignoring the fans, I went in immediately also, I hope our fans know how close we are to them”, Klopp said.
In truth Klopp recognised this as such by making eight changes to his side which last to that injury-time Lopez goal at El Madrigal with the side boasting an average age of just 23.
The future of Swansea head coach Francesco Guidolin has come into question in recent weeks but the Italian remained coy over his plans.
“The first two goals were too easy, they deserved the win and we deserved the defeat”.
“Everything would sound like an excuse but there was no excuse”. I’m only frustrated and disappointed because I know we could have played better.
“I think they have a great chance on Thursday night”, the Northern Irishman told Sky Sports.
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“But we went 2-0 down and after that it was hard to play against a team first in the table and who want to play in the space behind”.
