Liverpool 2-1 West Ham: Jürgen Klopp’s reaction

Seven days after scoring decisively against Sheffield United, Diogo Jota rose from the bench to reprise his role as the Reds’ game winner at Anfield by firing a pass from Xherdan Shaqiri with five minutes to go.

That came after a Mohamed Salah penalty late in the first half equaled Pablo Fornals’ first goal for the visitors.

The victory brings the champions to the top of the Premier League and Klopp’s side have now matched a club-record streak of 63 top flight home games without losing.

Read on for a transcript of the boss’s post-match press conference …

On the impact of the Jota and Shaqiri substitutions …

They were both good, obviously! It’s not difficult to bring Diogo and Shaq into the moment because they train in an exceptional way, so it makes perfect sense that they get their minutes. Yes, Diogo is in a good time! He is a good player and we are very happy that we were able to sign, so it is a win-win situation. I think we can help him and he can help us a lot. Yes, good night!

On Nat Phillips’ performance in his Premier League debut …

If you know the story behind and all those things, it makes it even more incredible. I’m very happy for him, he deserves it more than anyone. He’s a great guy, a smart guy, he knows exactly everything about himself as a footballer. He kept it really simple tonight, which was incredibly important to us. The boys supported him well and he supported the boys; he was vocal and spoke in the field. In the challenges he was there, really aggressive but without really faults, maybe one. It was a really good game and he deserves the [Man of the Match] award, especially when you know that Jamie Carragher gave him the award; he can understand what he felt tonight.

On what he wanted from Jota and Shaqiri when they left the bank …

It wasn’t about doing things differently, it was about doing the right things with different players, pretty much. That was more about. Curtis Jones, for example, I don’t know how many starts he’s had, [but] he played an exceptional game tonight, not forgetting how old he is. It’s intense and Bobby is the one who always has to fight for us in the closest area of ​​the field, so bringing in new players, in similar areas and especially Shaq in 10 in that case, we slightly changed the system, but with dominance That we had tonight, that’s not a problem System difficulties come with defense and not offensive play, so we wanted to use [Shaqiri] there. Along with racing. Mo and Sadio did exceptional runs there, so it’s very important: if the two players move and the other two don’t, it’s too easy to defend, so we needed these connected moves and that’s why we made the switch. For a defender, it’s not pleasant when you are used to one player and then you have to get used to another who is also quite good. So we put Sadio on the other side and Diogo on the left side. Were the reasons [we made the double change].

On the importance of football continuing during the latest COVID-19 lockdown in the UK …

Obviously that is what we want and I think we have shown that we can keep the bubble safe. Yes, we had cases, practically everyone had cases, that is the moment we are in, but we were able to isolate these cases quite quickly. It didn’t spread or whatever [and] This kind of thing didn’t happen until now, so it never happened in training ground. Happened when [players were] traveling with national teams or when new players came to the club and had to make some trips and bring people, all these kinds of things, normal life. I think we show that we can do it and I think also, in a confinement it is very important for people that they can do the things that they like to do, and watching football is obviously something they like to do, so I am happy that it can continue.

On what another battle win says about the mindset of his players …

I don’t have to say anything about it, you know that yourself. Of course, believing in one thing does not mean that it happens all the time, it does not happen all the time, but that’s how it all began with our improvement, with our success if you want. The basis of everything we do and did is the character of this group, that’s right. I cannot convince them to fight if they are not fighters, that is not possible. And if they are not willing to put all the desire in the game and show all the determination, I cannot do that. I can find reasons why they should, but I can’t convince them. So it was always easy with this team to show them the right path and then follow it, but again it’s an incredibly difficult time, in the outside world, 100 percent, and also for the kids. It’s really demanding, the number of games we have to play and all that, and because of that, and I spoke before the game with David Moyes about that, about the five subs and things like this, it would still be incredibly important if we could do that. [permit five subs in Premier League matches] because you can only fight when your body is ready.

I mean, they don’t have to be in the best shape possible, like four weeks off, a few sessions here and there and now let’s play football. We are ready to play every three or four days, but we have to find a way to help the boys and maintain quality. It’s not about us, he would have helped West Ham tonight as well, in a game that was also very demanding for them, if they could have had two more substitutes in the game. It doesn’t help a team, it helps players and that’s why we were talking about that.