While Liverpool were ultimately quite comfortable as they ran out 3-0 winners away to Leicester on Monday night, Jurgen Klopp still highlighted a passage of the game where he felt his team could’ve performed ‘a bit better’.
The Reds were two goals to the good at the interval and tacked on one more in the 71st minute, although the intervening period saw the home side raise a gallop as they tried to salvage a result amid their fight to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
As per LFC’s official website, the German was asked afterwards if his team gave the ‘perfect away performance’, to which he replied: “No, but it was good – really good.
“Between the 55th and, I don’t know exactly, the 75th minute maybe, I would have loved to have controlled a bit better. Our positioning was not as clear.
“The first 15 minutes I accept 100 per cent because it was a bit of a wild game. They really went for us and we had to figure out how we could build up the game.
“We had to adapt to that, the boys did that, we became more flexible and from that moment on we had five players facing the other goal and could then really pass through the lines and mix it up with [a] pass in behind, like for the first goal.”
In truth, aside from the first quarter-hour when Leicester came out of the traps quicker and a brief spell at the start of the second half, Liverpool were comfortably on top as they put Dean Smith’s men to the sword.
There were some moments after half-time where the Foxes did provide some scares, though, with Alisson forced into making saves from James Maddison (latterly flagged offside) and Harvey Barnes in the early second half exchanges.
Midway through the half, Alan Smith stated on commentary for Sky Sports that, “as long as it stays at 2-0, there’s something in it for Leicester” – something many Reds supporters may well have been thinking until Trent Alexander-Arnold’s rocket of a free kick settled the contest once and for all.
Liverpool have accrued plenty of wins this season where they needed to ride out uncomfortable periods, so Klopp won’t be unduly worried over last night.
Nonetheless, it’s good to see the manager insisting that his side are capable of even better as they seek to extend their winning run beyond the current seven-game mark in the hunt for a top-four finish, which still seems somewhat achievable at this stage of the season.