Klopp: Blame me for Napoli defeat

[tlw content]

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has accepted a large share of the blame for the listless performance of his team in the Champions League clash against Napoli on Wednesday evening.

 

The Reds fell to a 1-0 defeat courtesy of a 90th-minute goal from Napoli striker Lorenzo Insigne which sees the Italian side top Group C after two games.

 

Unlike some notable managers, Klopp is never one to shirk responsibility if the team does not live up to expectations and the German did so again after the second defeat in three games for the Reds.

 

The Liverpool Echo reported Klopp as saying:

 

“I have to accept that a big part of that performance was my fault for sure.

 

" We lost the game and it is quite difficult to perform like you perform. 

 

"I am pretty sure the reasons will be obvious and then we will sort that but tonight we were not good enough and normally if you are not good enough you lose games. That happened to us tonight.”

 

Liverpool failed to register a shot on target throughout the 90 minutes and it was statistic that Klopp struggled to get his head around.

 

"No attempts on target, I don't remember when that happened last time. I think we had a big part of that because we can play much better.

 

"We don't have a lot of set-pieces. No shot on target is not enough. They had a good game, we didn't, that's why they deserved the three points.”

 

 

The impressive start to the Liverpool career of goalkeeper Alisson Becker continued on Wednesday evening and along with central defender Joe Gomez, the duo could certainly hold their head high.

 

Klopp paid tribute to his Braziilian keeper.

 

"The first half was kind of okay but the second half was not good enough and it's always a bad sign when your goalkeeper is your best player. 

 

“But it was obvious tonight,” Klopp said.

 

While a defeat is never ideal, the win against PSG on matchday 1 is worth it's weight in gold especially with back to back games against Red Star Belgrade coming up.

 

The big games don't stop coming for the Reds with reigning Premier League champions Man City coming to Anfield on Sunday.

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[ZonkoVille77]

Too right - it's only fair. He's being stubborn picking out of form players and there's nothing happening in midfield other than sideways passing. How many times this season have we seen long balls bypassing midfield in the hope that the speedy boys can latch onto them? It's not working and he needs to revisit his plan of attack.

[Tyler Durden]

We have spells like this every season since he has been here and then it just clicks, the fact we are joint top and beat PSG despite not being close to our best is testament to how good we are becoming. Napoli were good last night and we were unlucky to concede so late with how they played

[AngryOfTuebrook]

He is the anti-Mourinho.

[johnsusername]

2 minutes ago, AngryofTuebrook said:

He is the anti-Mourinho.

I was thinking that - if it was Mourinho, he'd have criticised his players, singled one of them out in particular, and reminded everyone what he'd won in the past. 

[Babb'sBurstNad]

If there's one major flaw to Klopp it's waiting too long for substitutions. Napoli had a spell in the second half that, left unchecked, was always going to feed into their confidence and grab them a winner. The game was crying out for Shaqiri, he may not have shooting boots on but at least he runs and adds some dynamism into that forward line.

[El Rojo]

13 minutes ago, johnsusername said:

I was thinking that - if it was Mourinho, he'd have criticised his players, singled one of them out in particular, and reminded everyone what he'd won in the past. 

Judging by some of the contributions on the match-thread, him taking a swipe off Henderson after the match would have been greeted like our first trophy in over six years.

[Captain Turdseye]

2 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Judging by some of the contributions on the match-thread, him taking a swipe off Henderson after the match would have been greeted like our first trophy in over six years.

 

Say what you like about Jose but he’d have bombed out Henderson and replaced him with someone six inches taller years ago. 

[El Rojo]

9 minutes ago, Captain Turdseye said:

 

Say what you like about Jose but he’d have bombed out Henderson and replaced him with someone six inches taller years ago. 

Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age, but I'm really enjoying Jose's work over at Manchester United.

[Scooby Dudek]

The mad thing is, IF we had drawn it would have been seen as another sign of improvement, playing shite and grabbing a draw away in Europe. However we lost, so all the faults are there to see. 

The fact Klopp bought two midfielders and tried to buy an attacking midfielder makes  me think Klopp knows were the problems lie. 

It was the lack of fight that concerned me the most.

[The Golden Eel]

Sounds like a come-and-get-me plea to Bayern.

[VladimirIlyich]

46 minutes ago, Babb'sBurstNad said:

If there's one major flaw to Klopp it's waiting too long for substitutions. Napoli had a spell in the second half that, left unchecked, was always going to feed into their confidence and grab them a winner. The game was crying out for Shaqiri, he may not have shooting boots on but at least he runs and adds some dynamism into that forward line.

I said this to my lad last night just as they were beginning to get on top. Fabinho should have been on 15 minutes earlier and Shaqiri should be getting more game time. As bad as we were up front we kept them at bay for most of the game and but for his part in their late goal I thought Robbo was superb while none of the defensive 5 were poor. Whereas last season our front 3 were getting us out of the shit they aren't quite firing just yet. Its also worth remembering that the world cup has fucked a few of our players pre season programmes and are looking jaded and carrying niggles,our front 3 were all at the WC too. Two defeats and a draw in our last three doesn't make great reading but we still have a chance to make up for it.

[ZonkoVille77]

1 hour ago, VladimirIlyich said:

 while none of the defensive 5 were poor.

 

TAA was absolute gash last night.

[Jairzinho]

Robertson was poor and TAA was appalling.

 

I thought Alisson, the centrebacks and Milner played well. The rest were somewhere between not very good and utterly atrocious. Says a lot about the quality of the aforementioned four that we were so close to getting something from the game.

[magicrat]

1 hour ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

 

TAA was absolute gash last night.

That he was .  I largely blame him for the goal but Klopp should have hooked him 20 minutes earlier as he was out of gas even then. Clyne on Sunday without a doubt.

[ZonkoVille77]

I don't think he could play as bad as he did last night. He offers so much more than Clyne so he still gets the start.

He wasn't the only one who was off last night.

[magicrat]

5 minutes ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

I don't think he could play as bad as he did last night. He offers so much more than Clyne so he still gets the start.

He wasn't the only one who was off last night.

 

He looks shattered. Don't forget his age , the WC and the way he has taken over the job of full back and winger full time all very quickly. No I think he should sit out a few games.

 

Last night Robbo had an off game but he wasn't a disaster, the rest of the defence , especially Gomez, were fine. The problems were higher up the pitch were we created fuck all and couldn't retain possession  

[ZonkoVille77]

9 minutes ago, magicrat said:

 

He looks shattered. Don't forget his age , the WC and the way he has taken over the job of full back and winger full time all very quickly. No I think he should sit out a few games.

 

I agree he looks shattered. He didn't get much help from Mo last night either. Tough one to call but I'd defo stick with TAA for this one then maybe look at resting.

[magicrat]

1 minute ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

 

I agree he looks shattered. He didn't get much help from Mo last night either. Tough one to call but I'd defo stick with TAA for this one then maybe look at resting.

Maybe Mo should be benched as well. Wouldn't argue if Shaquiri got the nod on Sunday

[ZonkoVille77]

4 minutes ago, magicrat said:

Maybe Mo should be benched as well. Wouldn't argue if Shaquiri got the nod on Sunday

 

With the form Mo is in, yes. Bringing him on as an impact sub when legs are tiring could be a method of getting him up to speed agian.

[stringvest]

I would get Fabinho and Shaqiri into the team.  Drop Henderson and Wij.  Unlucky on Wij perhaps, but we need to get Fabinho up to speed, and that is going to take games.

[moof]

17 minutes ago, stringvest said:

I would get Fabinho and Shaqiri into the team.  Drop Henderson and Wij.  Unlucky on Wij perhaps, but we need to get Fabinho up to speed, and that is going to take games.

Lmao 

[Bjornebye]

53 minutes ago, stringvest said:

I would get Fabinho and Shaqiri into the team.  Drop Henderson and Wij.  Unlucky on Wij perhaps, but we need to get Fabinho up to speed, and that is going to take games.

Maybe not this one though mate. 

[Anubis]

Personally, I blame ESPN journos who, on the eve of a big game write articles aimed at destabilising the dressing room. The team don't need that sort of speculation.

 

 

[stringvest]

I do actually blame Klopp for this, but he's still got shedloads of credit in the bank.