Jurgen Klopp “did not like” Liverpool’s game against Salzburg all too much after sloppy mistakes saw the Austrian side race to a two-goal lead before Rhian Brewster pegged them back.
It was not a performance which one will look back on as an example of how Liverpool will look to play in 2020/21, rather one which will be used as a what not to do.
The Reds were caught napping from an opponent who Klopp had expected to be bursting with energy and intensity, with Fabinho caught in possession for Patson Daka’s opener after just three minutes.
A sloppy pass from defence caught Liverpool out of position to lead to his second, with the Reds feeling the effects of a heavy training load.
Mass changes in the second saw the Reds turn momentum their way, with Brewster’s poise and eye for goal pegging Salzburg back to see the game end 2-2 and finish the pre-season camp in Austria with an 100 percent unbeaten record.
For the boss, while the problems which arose were not the ones he had thought would rear their head, the clash offered the ideal source for preparation.
“Entertaining was in the entirely wrong way, so it didn’t obviously look really good for big parts of the game,” Klopp said post-match.
“I should or could have known. I know obviously what we did in training. We had a really good camp. Sessions looked really good, boys are sharp. And today was obviously the day where we had heavy legs.
“Then we played too complicated, gave the wrong people in the wrong moment the wrong ball.
“But I wanted problems today, not exactly the problems we had but I wanted to have problems and fight against it.
“When the kids came on and Millie was on we didn’t think about the problems we had we just tried to have a few solutions.
“So we scored two super goals from Rhian – the second one was brilliant from him and the first was brilliantly set up by Taki and Millie.
“We made it too easy for the goals they scored, they were now confident and defended deep and stuff like this. Didn’t like the game too much but we can use it anyway.”
The Reds will now return to Melwood ahead of their Community Shield clash against Arsenal on Saturday, where Klopp was confident that his side will perform better.
“Four days until the first opportunity [for silverware] so we have to use that obviously for recovery and we will not have a lot of input in training now,” he added.
“All the things we did were there to prepare for the season, for the first game obviously. The pre-season actually ends in two weeks before the game against Leeds but we will be as ready as possible for this game [against Arsenal].
“We should player better than today and I think we will have a chance. We will play better than today so that’s all good – Austria was really good.”
And Virgil van Dijk‘s cut to the eye sustained from a strike to the head from a member of the opposition’s elbow “will not be a problem.”
Fan Comments