Jurgen Klopp was not happy, at all, as Liverpool imploded and lost at Leicester City on Saturday.
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But he mostly wasn’t happy with VAR, rather than being angry with his team as he said Liverpool were the ‘clear dominant side’ in their 3-1 loss at Leicester.
The reigning champions have now lost three Premier League games in a row and have lost five of their last eight, as they were 1-0 up late on at Leicester but then conceded three goals in seven minutes and the first of those has Klopp fired up as he didn’t think it was a foul.
Just when it looked like Liverpool would surge to victory, Leicester’s Harvey Barnes won a penalty kick but VAR ruled it was outside the box.
James Maddison then curled home that free kick but it was ruled offside… yet VAR checked the decision and the goal was given to make it 1-1, and Klopp believed it changed the game.
“It is a really tough one to take. We discussed a lot about VAR. It was a turning point in the game. I saw it now, the goal, the moment when they stopped the situation, when you look at who is offside, he didn’t even touch the ball yet,” Klopp told BT Sport. “It is still an individual decision of someone who says it is offside or is not offside. That is really hard. For me it looks like a clear offside in that moment because he has to touch the ball. When I saw it now and when Bobby’s foot is a little bit closer whatever they throw in there. That’s it. That is the turning point.”
Klopp correct to point to VAR?
So, Klopp admitted that Liverpool fell apart after that first goal and with injuries piling up and their confidence levels at rock bottom, that is understandable.
“The turning point is the first goal. It is not okay that is the turning point. It changed too much with this one goal. I don’t think it was even a foul because Barnes jumps into the situation. We didn’t react well on that. I take that. Around that we played really top football. They [Leicester] were lucky to win today, they know it probably. We have to deal with our own situation,” Klopp said.
Klopp also pointed to a ‘misunderstanding’ between Alisson and new center back Ozan Kabak as the former came flying off his line and made another huge mistake after two huge mistakes against Manchester City last week.
The German coach said Alisson had a ‘super game’ with some top saves, but in that moment he didn’t hear the Brazilian superstar shout for the ball and Kabak was unfamiliar with Alisson’s tendencies and caused them problems.
Klopp concedes title, as reigning champions in battle for top four
Liverpool’s manager admitted they are having ‘tough times’ but couldn’t fault the effort of his team, as they are now in a massive battle to finish in the top four and could be as low as seventh in the table at the end of this matchweek.
The German coach conceded their Premier League title battle is over this season and there will be no title defense due to their
“Yes, I can’t believe but yes,” Klopp said when asked by a reported if he was conceding the title.
Klopp then went on to state that his team need to stop making silly mistakes if they want to start winning games consistently.
This 90 minutes summed up Liverpool’s season. Lots of promise throughout but they squandered so many chances and then made huge individual errors to slump to yet another defeat.