Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed why his team lost on Saturday’s game against Leeds United at Anfield.
In response to a question about how to address his team’s current problems, Klopp focused on the team’s injury problems, claiming that many of his star players simply haven’t had the time to regain their best form due to a busy schedule and a thin squad.
A goal from Crysencio Summerville in the 89th minute ended Virgil van Dijk’s home league record at 70 games, and the Reds suffered their first Premier League loss in front of an Anfield crowd in nearly five years as they lost 2-1 to Leeds United.
Having lost, Liverpool is now ninth in the league standings, closer to the relegation zone than the top four after 12 games. Klopp acknowledged that his team is not at their best right now.
“Maybe some players are overplayed, Harvey [Elliott] has been exceptional for us this season,” Klopp began. “He had a good start but couldn’t keep it going. Thiago has been ill, up front the same [players] play all the time – they are the three strikers we have left. We have to fight and that is what we must do.
“A team performance is always made up of individual performances. One leads to the other. You can watch this game completely, you cannot defend like we did for the second goal but we did, that’s why we lost. Otherwise, it would have been a point and we go from there. Now we have nothing and it feels completely different.
“We have to bring our quality on to the pitch and we fight against it. We had problems from the first day, injury wise. Players have had to play from the first day. It’s our situation and it means we have to help ourselves, and that is what we will do.”