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Jurgen Klopp says he can understand why Eddie Howe might ‘not be happy about that’

2 years ago
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Jurgen Klopp watched his team on Thursday night close to within a point of  Manchester City.

Liverpool fans had predicted it would be the easiest of wins, a stroll in the park, maybe double figures to help the goal difference, a walkover, a cricket score etc etc.

However…as Jurgen Klopp made clear afterwards, Newcastle United were a little bit more problematic than the scousers were anticipating: ‘They [Newcastle United] put everything in, threw everything on the pitch, had a very defensive organisation, went 1-0 up – so this is the recipe for a difficult game.’

In the final analysis though, predictably the Liverpool boss thought there was only one team deserved to win: ‘But we still won it, absolutely deserved…’

You know when you go to the likes of Liverpool or Man City, they are going to have more of the game and more chances, so simply a case of trying to ensure you keep it as tight as possible, carry some luck and made a decent number of chances yourself.

Newcastle United managed the third of those I think, with a handful of decent chances and other situations in the opposition half, scored one and could and should maybe have had a second, Allison making a good save but possibly ASM shouldn’t have given him the opportunity to save it when the score was 1-1.

Straight after that, it was appalling from Shelvey, for the second game in a row a major contributor to creating the opposition’s goal to take the lead, anything but ‘tight as possible’, as he blindly played in Liverpool to make it 2-1.

As for the key equalising goal, Isaac Hayden lying prone in the six yard box with what appeared a head injury, Mike Dean refused to stop the match, Jurgen Klopp admitting: ‘I can imagine Eddie [Howe] is not happy about that…’

I think ‘not happy’ doesn’t come close to the NUFC Head Coach’s fury at this disgraceful bit of refereeing from Mike Dean.

Jurgen Klopp press conference after Liverpool 3 Newcastle 1:

“That is the Premier League…the opponent is obviously fighting for staying in the league.

“They put everything in, threw everything on the pitch, had a very defensive organisation, went 1-0 up – so this is the recipe for a difficult game.

“But we still won it, absolutely deserved, that’s it pretty much.”

Should the controversial equaliser have stood?

“I didn’t see it back it yet.

“I pretty much gave interviews [since the game finished].

“I had the question already in pretty much each interview, but I had no time to watch it back, so I don’t know.

“I saw a player down – I think when we scored the goal there was only one player down, if I am right – I spoke to the linesman on our side and he said it was all fine, just two players bounced into each other.

“I cannot judge the situation from there; I think if there is a head injury, we scored the goal a second or two seconds later so you can sort that afterwards but we were not involved in the incident as far as I know.

“We didn’t jump into them, they jumped into each other if the things people told me are right. That’s it.

“I can imagine Eddie [Howe] is not happy about that but I saw the goal and had no time to watch it back yet.”

Alexander-Arnold’s goal:

“I thought it was the best long ball we played today!

“Absolutely crazy goal.

“His shooting technique is really different level and really cool to watch. In a situation like that, having the positivity and optimism to do it is, again, the basis for these kind of goals. So, well done.”

On Fabinho, Curtis Jones and Virgil van Dijk missing the game after registering suspected positive tests for COVID-19 and whether the club have ‘contained it’ heading into the weekend?

“We hope, we hope.

“Yeah, the situation is difficult for us, for the whole world, that’s how it is. We pretty much woke up this morning and had three positive cases. So the process we follow now at the training round is that before we enter the training ground, we do a lateral flow test and then go back in the car and then we wait for the result. And in these moments we had three positive tests, which is obviously not too cool, and we wait obviously for confirmation because there is still the possibility of false positive. But for today we couldn’t wait for that and we had to make the decision, send the boys home.

“So there were three players out, two of them would have started obviously today – it was, of course, not a reason to cancel the game tonight or to even ask for it, but we will see how it now develops.

“This virus is now around us so long that it’s not really likely that it will stay at three, [but] the boys don’t have a lot of spare time to go where they could pick it. All of them are vaccinated – they had already the booster – and it still can happen, that’s just how it is.

“But we have a really, really good chance that the boys get through it now without proper symptoms. So far, they don’t have any symptoms – they were more surprised than us that they had it but that’s what you have to accept and that’s what we do. Hopefully they are quickly back again.”

Stats from BBC Sport:

Liverpool 3 Newcastle 1 – Thursday 16 December 8pm

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Goals:

Liverpool:

Jota 21, Salah 25, Alexander-Arnold 87

Newcastle:

Shelvey 7

Possession was Liverpool 74% (77%) Newcastle 26% (23%)

Total shots were Liverpool 23 (12) Newcastle 4 (2)

Shots on target were Liverpool 8 (6) Newcastle 2 (2)

Corners were Liverpool 11 (6) Newcastle 0 (0)

Referee: Mike Dean

Newcastle United:

Dubravka, Manquillo, Schar, Lascelles, Lewis (Ritchie 15), Hayden, Murphy, Shelvey, Fraser (Willock 87), Saint-Maximin (Wilson 79), Joelinton

Unused Subs:

Darlow, Hendrick, Gayle, Longstaff, Almiron, Clark

(Liverpool 3 Newcastle 1 – Match ratings and comments on all the NUFC players – Read HERE)

(Eddie Howe points finger of blame at Mike Dean after Newcastle United defeat at Anfield – Read HERE)

(Liverpool 3 Newcastle 1 – Instant NUFC fan/writer reaction to Thursday’s defeat – Read HERE)

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