Klopp’s side lost their shape and it was not long before Sevilla took the lead through a flowing team move, finished off by Coke, their captain. There were some obvious decisions which went against us. “If it was 2-0 at half-time it’s different”, he said. But you need consistency, you need more. Then someday everybody will say Basel was a very decisive moment for the wonderful future of Liverpool FC.
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But first of all, he must address how and why Liverpool’s play slumped after Sevilla levelled the match less than 20 seconds into the second half ” and then totally dominated it after that, often pulling Liverpool’s defense apart easily.
Speaking to the Echo prior to their agony in Basel, Jurgen Klopp insisted that their Champions League status for next season would not dictate his transfer targets. They are still young, the players’ first big final, but unfortunately it is the second time this season (we’ve lost one). “We will celebrate this tonight but we will be careful”. It wasn’t compact anymore.
But a second-half fight-back on Wednesday saw Spanish midfielder Coke hit a brace in the space of six minutes to help Sevilla to their third consecutive and fifth trophy overall from Europe’s second-tier competition.
“We were able to score three goals against a great team …that has double our budget and titles”, Sevilla president Jose Castro said on Friday. “It is not about the size of the squad, it is about using the time in training to get better”. Then we have a short break and start again.
We’d humbly suggest that it’s a bit too early to come to that conclusion, and that his CV prior to joining the Premier League speaks for itself.
Whether it was the passion, a little booze or that heady mix of both that prompted his outburst will no doubt remain unclear, but it’s nice to see the sterile television studios and lame “banter” haven’t dulled his passion. “We will do something with transfers, that’s clear”. “Pure work. That is what the job is”.
But the German claims he is not an unlucky person, though the defeat is hard to take. I spoke to my players already and tomorrow they go all over the world so that’s how it is. “I don’t think I’m an unlucky person in life”, he said.
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“Sometimes you need someone in there who can put it about, and play a bit, don’t get me wrong, and I think that’s one of the areas he [the manager] might look to address”, the Liverpool legend added.
