Jurgen Klopp bemoaned Liverpool’s defending for Leeds’ winning goal and their general lack of control as they slumped to a 2-1 loss at Anfield.
Liverpool were condemned to a second consecutive Premier League defeat when Crysencio Summerville latched onto a loose ball and fired a low finish into the bottom corner in the 89th minute.
Earlier, a defensive mix-up had allowed Rodrigo to put Leeds in front, with Mohamed Salah scoring Liverpool’s equaliser before a string of outstanding saves from visiting goalkeeper Illan Meslier allowed Summerville to clinch Leeds a memorable victory.
The result leaves Klopp’s side in ninth place in the Premier League, 13 points behind Manchester City and, even more worryingly, eight points behind fourth-placed Newcastle.
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“A setback, absolutely,” Klopp told Sky Sports afterwards. “I thought we had a really good start to the game then we conceded a freakish goal.
“We scored the equaliser, but it didn’t give us the complete security back for whatever reason. We struggled with controlling the game, which is difficult against a side with the speed they have up front.
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“We gave too many balls away. The boys really tried, we had a lot of possession, we had big chances.
“But the problem is we cannot control this kind of game in the moment, and that’s obviously a problem.
“With the amount of games we have, maybe some players are a little bit overplayed.
“But If you don’t finish your situations off, they are there and that changed the game completely in the moment.
“If we are 2-1 up or 1-0 up then that would obviously be helpful, but it’s not a given for us in the moment, and so we have to fight against it and that’s what we will obviously do.”
Of Liverpool’s slack defending for Summerville’s winner, Klopp added: “You cannot defend like we defended around the second goal – it’s just not possible.
“But we did and I’m not sure how to explain that now. It’s happened anyway and that’s why we lost.
“Otherwise, it would have been a point which would have been deserved as well and then we take a point and go from there but now we have nothing which feels completely different.”
Asked how he can solve Liverpool’s problems, Klopp said: “With working.
“It’s not that it’s gone, it’s that it is more difficult for us to in the moment to bring our quality on the pitch. That’s the situation you have to go through. We accept that and we fight against it.
“We had problems from the first day, that’s obvious. Injury wise, some players have to play then too often, and others come back and have to play too early. The games are coming thick and fast, so that’s the situation we have.”
Marsch hails Leeds togetherness
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Leeds boss Jesse Marsch was delighted to see his side’s efforts rewarded as the victory took them out of the relegation zone and eased the pressure on his shoulders.
“It was a good performance again and it was good that we were able to reward ourselves. My feeling is we shouldn’t be in this situation we’re in, but we are. I’ve tried to stay calm but also tried to push.
“The group is strong and they’re committed, so I’m thankful to have them. I think they stepped up big today and they’re the reason why we were able to get the win.
“I’ve believed in this group. We shouldn’t be in this situation – if you look at the metrics, we should not be in this situation, but we are and we’ve tried to maximise it at all moments. We needed something like this and now we’ve got to stay strong.
“We’re still in a process here of trying to build something that’s new and you can see in our good moments we’re really good and then in our bad moments, we look too vulnerable and naive.
“But today we reduced the bad moments and increased the good moments, and then we were able to get a result.
“Everybody’s made a big deal about me and firing me and I’m the problem, but the board has been with me.
“We’ve all been unified, we’ve stuck together so it’s always ‘we’.”