Klopp liked Liverpool’s display, explains why defense struggled

Jurgen Klopp was satisfied with Liverpool’s performance in the thrilling victory over Leeds despite conceding three goals.

The champions began their title defense by sharing seven goals with visitors from Marcelo Bielsa, with Mo Salah scoring a hat-trick.

Salah opened the scoring with a penalty in the fifth minute, but Leeds responded with a Premier League opener from Jack Harrison. Virgil Van Dijk then exchanged goals with Patrick Bamford and Salah saw his half volley in the 33rd minute annulled by an effort from Mateusz Klich in the second half, making it 3-3.

A foul on Fabinho by Leeds club’s record signing Rodrigo kept Salah on his nerves with just minutes to get the Reds over the line.

“I said before the game that we would fight them because the way they play is uncomfortable and it is different from all other teams,” he said.

“If you don’t respect your opponent, they kill you like football and I really liked the attitude of my team today. I have to say that they just don’t stop, I like it.

“I didn’t see myself fighting defensively, but the way they play, you can’t defend 100 percent of the time.

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“For the first goal, both full-backs went deeper than the center-backs and that should never happen in football. The second goal was a misunderstanding between Virgil and Ali (Alisson Becker) and I don’t think we see these situations very often.

“In the third we switched to Hendo (Jordan Henderson) not long before and our line-up was moving and we didn’t close a gap.

“The bottom line (of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Van Dijk and Andy Robertson) played for England, Holland and Scotland four days ago, all the best teams but different ways of defending.

“And if things are not resolved early in the preseason, the defense is not riding a bike, so there is room for improvement.”