Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool ‘couldn’t calm down’ during Champions League win over Midtjylland

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted that his team’s 2-0 Champions League victory over FC Midtjylland was not as comfortable as the scoreboard suggests, admitting it was “a really hectic match”.

The German left big-name stars like Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino out of the starting lineup for the clash at Anfield as he looked to manage his squad and maintain fitness levels, but his renewed side still got the job done.

The goals came from Diego Jota and substitute Salah from the penalty spot for the Reds to secure victory in the second half, and Klopp said the match was ‘tough’ and the visiting team caused them problems with their relentless pressure. .

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admitted his team had to overcome a ‘difficult’ game against Midtjylland

He praised his fringe stars like Diego Jota (C) and Takumi Minamino for stepping up.

“We made a lot of changes and it is my job to decide obviously, I have all the information about what the guys did,” he told the club’s official website.

But for different reasons, again, the game was really complicated. They pushed like crazy, they played a really frantic match and we couldn’t calm down in the decisive moments.

But actually individual performances, for not playing so long, like [Divock Origi] I didn’t play for a while, that was absolutely fine. [Xherdan Shaqiri] I didn’t play for a longer period, absolutely great – 90 minutes, amazing. [Takumi Minamino], very lively but obviously not exactly in the game.

Klopp said Liverpool were given a ‘frantic’ game with the visitors ‘pushing us like crazy’

‘You saw when a team defends like them, then you need your patterns and we don’t show them tonight. That doesn’t help.

Liverpool scored their goal against a stubborn Midtjylland just after the break thanks to a deft passing movement between Trent Alexander-Arnold and Xherdan Shaqiri, with Jota finishing well, and Klopp said he wanted the team to play with that kind of confidence at all times. .

“We scored a goal anyway in probably the best moment in football where we really spent exactly how we should have.” They had many possibilities: two or three. So you just have to fight and that’s what we did. It’s like in a marriage, it’s in good times and in bad times, you have to stay together. ‘

The German said young defender Rhys Williams ‘did very well’ after getting into action

Without several members of his regular senior group, along with the loss of makeshift center-back Fabinho, Klopp had to rely on fringe stars like Minamino, Origi and Shaqiri, as well as young prospect Rhys Williams.

He singled out the 19-year-old to praise him, but with the youngster now looking to compete against West Ham at the weekend, he said it’s up to him to deal with the pressure to succeed.

He did really well. The only problem we have now is that, unfortunately, we have four days for the West Ham game and you will make a story of him every day and then he has to show that he can also deal with that because before everything was calm around him. .