Jurgen Klopp feels his side did enough to beat Everton on Saturday as he discussed Mo Salah‘s positioning, Trent’s substitution and Fabio Carvalho‘s ‘dead leg’ with the media post-match.
Here are four key things from Klopp after the stalemate:
‘If you can’t win, don’t lose’
Having already dropped points three times in the league before the Merseyside derby, it’s not quite the perspective Liverpool fans want to have at this stage.
The Reds were not without their chances to make it three wins on the spin, but equally Alisson ensured they even had a chance to do so.
“We fought, we didn’t play always extremely well but created enough, had top chances but didn’t use them and then you cannot score,” Klopp assessed.
“But how I said, if you can’t win the derby, don’t lose it.”
‘Dead leg’ for Carvalho
A halftime substitution came the way of Favio Carvalho after a knock to his knee, leaving him with a painful dead leg and a doubt for Wednesday’s trip to Napoli.
“Not bad, it’s extremely painful. It’s a dead leg in the muscles above the knee and he couldn’t bend the knee anymore,” Klopp said of the injury.
“We have to see how quickly that settles. You could see he tried, but you could see he couldn’t run properly, we just waited for halftime to make the change.”
Thankfully it’s not serious, it’s just a matter of waiting for the issue to settle. But it’s the last thing Liverpool wanted.
Salah’s positioning
Mohamed Salah had a peripheral role throughout the derby, which has been a notable trend for fans throughout the season to date.
His wide positioning was put to Klopp, who doesn’t feel the No. 11 has been too far away from central positions more than he’d like.
“It’s not more than other seasons, or whatever, I’m not sure what you see there.
“We want to have Mo there in this position but we want to have Mo, we’ve always had him, more often in central positions as well.
“Today especially we wanted to use the boys a bit more centrally but didn’t have a lot of time to train, obviously.
“I spoke a lot about but not sure I was clear enough in the first half of exactly what I wanted.
“I don’t think in the season he is too often wide, but today in a few moments, yes.”
Why was Trent substituted?
It was not the best of performances for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Klopp admitted as much, replaced by James Milner.
His substitution was with game management in mind, the manager said as he looks to keep the full-backs fresh when he can.
“We have to [manage his game time]. Where can we change in the moment?
“With players coming in and coming back, Arthur is now here and will be very important for us but hasn’t played football in a long time.
“Who do we then have on the bench? Milly can play midfield and both full-back positions and just thought it makes sense to bring fresh legs there.
“Trent is playing all the time, Robbo is playing all the time, and from time to time we have alternatives and that’s why we have to use them to bring fresh energy.
“It has nothing to do with performances, even when I know Trent can play better than today. Definitely.”
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