Jürgen Klopp praised his players’ reaction to shipping an unlikely equaliser at Fulham and welcomed a “sensational result” as Liverpool rallied late to move two points clear at the top of the Premier League.
James Milner’s penalty nine minutes from time saw the visitors leapfrog Manchester City to return to the summit before the international break and maintained Liverpool’s recent record of summoning wins after exertions in the Champions League. Klopp’s team, victors at Bayern Munich on Wednesday, have won five of their eight games immediately after midweek European ties, having prevailed in only three of 12 last season.
“We had a very intense week, going to Munich, coming back and then travelling to London, which is not around the corner, so if this was an average game it was a sensational result,” said Klopp, who had seen his team’s dominance eroded by errors from Milner, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson to hand the hosts an equaliser. “We let Fulham back into the game a bit – that is down to the intensity of the competition, and nothing to do with nerves – giving the ball to Fulham, and waking the crowd up, and the goal they scored … well, we asked for it.
“But I’m pleased with the reaction of my players. After that, we were much clearer again than we’d been before. I didn’t see us panic. I liked how we reacted.
“We are long enough now in this situation to know it’s difficult for other teams to beat us and that we will have opportunities to win it.
“In most of the draws we’ve had, we’ve been closer to winning the games, so we knew another chance will come. So it was not a perfect football game but, in a difficult week for us, a sensational result.”
Liverpool host third-place Tottenham Hotspur in their next fixture, by which time City, who are due at Craven Cottage 24 hours before, may have re-established themselves at the pinnacle. “For us, it was clear: City don’t look as if they drop a lot of points, so we have to win, to win and to win,” added Klopp, who expects Jordan Henderson to be fit to link up with the England squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro. “You could see from our reaction after the game what it meant for us.
“Now it’s important the boys come back [from international duty] healthy again for the Tottenham match, an interesting game against a really good footballing team ... Nothing is decided, but we wanted to stay in the race. That’s what we did today.”
