Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on positive start after Reds held to 1-1 draw by Chelsea
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00:00 Hi.
00:01 Evening.
00:11 Romelu, I'd like to go first.
00:14 Jürgen, what was your view of the game today, please?
00:19 Was it a point or do you feel you could have gone more?
00:21 I'm OK with the point, I saw the game so I know we could have won,
00:27 but I saw the game, we could have lost as well, so that's how it is.
00:32 I think we had the last chance of the game, right?
00:34 That would have been a great moment to finish it off.
00:38 But we had a really good start into the game, I liked that a lot,
00:41 everything was there, what we were working on.
00:44 Scored two wonderful goals on disallowed offside,
00:49 I was really close, the build-up to that goal was absolutely top class.
00:55 But then we opened the door for Chelsea,
00:59 we lost the ball in one or two situations which were unnecessary,
01:04 and I think the second goal was after set-piece, I'm not 100% sure.
01:08 The other goal, we won the ball, we had the ball,
01:11 and then we didn't clear it enough, but it was offside as well.
01:14 But obviously Chelsea were better in the game, it was an open game then,
01:19 and in the second half, with the crowd and all these things,
01:25 we had to dig really deep and fight hard,
01:28 and in the end we got a point, and that's OK.
01:32 I saw a lot of things I liked, and of course some things I didn't like particularly,
01:36 but it's a first game and a tough place,
01:41 and I tend to see it rather positively, to be honest.
01:46 So far in my career, first-match days were always difficult,
01:52 and a way game at Chelsea as a first-match day is not a top draw.
01:58 So we have a point and we keep working.
02:03 Jürgen, can you explain the role of Goppo in the midfield with Alex Rennes?
02:11 What did you expect from him?
02:16 The role of Cody Goppo? He was an aide.
02:21 I had to do what an aide has to do.
02:24 You want a more detailed explanation?
02:28 He's not used to that role.
02:31 Oh, he is, he played that pretty much the whole pre-season.
02:35 And he can play different positions, and for players that's very important,
02:39 I think in modern football we should get rid of these...
02:43 When we decided that everybody can have their own number on the back,
02:48 then the 2 was not a 2 anymore and the 6 was not a 6 anymore,
02:51 so you can play a big strike and have a 6.
02:53 That was the first step in the right direction,
02:55 and I think modern football is like that,
02:58 players can play different positions,
03:00 and Dom Sobreslai didn't play the position in his former club as well.
03:04 They are more from the wing, defensively especially,
03:09 so defensively it was more half-space.
03:11 So the role suits him, definitely, he's super important for us.
03:18 I think today you could see in the first game of this pre-season
03:21 a lot of spaces to cover, gaps to close,
03:27 and that was actually our problem in the game,
03:29 that we tried to close the gaps by dropping instead of by stepping in.
03:37 That's what we did in the beginning.
03:39 And then they could find Sterling between the lines,
03:42 then James was all of a sudden in the game,
03:44 Chilwell better in the game, but these things...
03:47 We should have solved it better.
03:50 But the best way to avoid these kind of things is obviously controlling the game,
03:54 but we could have done, because it always meant we...
03:56 When we did that, when we passed in the right moment,
03:59 when we kept the ball in the right moment,
04:01 then we created 1-1 situations on the wing,
04:03 so this was really tricky for Chelsea to deal with.
04:06 And so, how I said, it's the first game, not the last,
04:12 so we have a lot of things to improve, no doubt about that,
04:14 but I saw already a good basis.
04:17 Jürgen, Mo didn't look very happy when you took him off,
04:23 what was your reasoning and did you have to have a conversation with him?
04:26 No, I didn't have a conversation yet with him.
04:29 Actually, I don't think you ever saw Mo leaving the pitch happily,
04:33 I can't remember it. That's OK, that's absolutely OK,
04:37 and today I didn't think in that moment about it, I didn't even know about it,
04:41 that if he would have scored in that game it would not have been an all-time record.
04:45 So I understand it's a disappointment, but I'm the manager of the whole team.
04:49 In that moment we needed fresh legs, I think that made really sense for us,
04:53 and it's never anything to do with Mo or whatever, or against him, of course not.
04:58 99 per cent of the things we achieve we achieve because of him or with him.
05:03 And that he's not happy is clear, I understand that, and that's no problem.
05:10 There's been a lot of criticism of players for wasting time,
05:17 and that's supposedly why stoppage time is so long now,
05:20 but it seemed to me that all the stoppage time today was for the officials,
05:25 taking centre stage, making decisions on threads of offside,
05:32 which is what offside is about and never was.
05:35 And it seems to me that the game is more about the officials than the players.
05:40 Oh, thank you very much, you bring me into the discussion.
05:44 Oh, my God, you might write your article without anything from me,
05:49 but I didn't see it that way today, so it's absolutely clear.
05:53 I think last season some teams stretched it, definitely,
06:01 and we are not one of these teams, we never were.
06:03 And I knew we would get the first yellow card for time-wasting with a throw-in.
06:11 When Trent is looking for a player, when he tries to find a player,
06:16 this is a tactical thing, they cannot just take the ball and throw it,
06:19 this is a tactical thing.
06:21 It's like Brentford, if you take the stoppage time for Brentford,
06:24 when they take a free kick, for example, that takes ages,
06:28 because they have 500 routines, they need to clarify first and foremost which one they take.
06:32 Corners are the same, nobody would think about giving them a yellow card.
06:37 Throw-ins are the same, so maybe we have to clarify that a little bit.
06:42 But besides that, I think too many teams...
06:46 I'm not sure how to put it, stretched it, just made it too obvious.
06:51 And that's why everybody thinks we should watch a bit more football,
06:56 so I don't know exactly what the net ball-and-play time was today,
07:02 but that's how it is now. It was not a problem today, to be honest, for me.
07:08 Was it first half, six or eight minutes even?
07:12 Yeah, we ask decisions, and second half, five, I think that's a lot!
07:19 But this is a time where we try to sort it like that,
07:23 I'm not sure that will last forever, but for the moment it's like that
07:26 and we have to deal with it.
07:28 Last couple over here.
07:29 A lot of Chelsea and Liverpool fans talking before the game
07:32 about transfer window, Caicedo and Lavier,
07:34 it seems that both clubs are interested,
07:36 is there anything you can say to enlighten people on what they may or may not do?
07:40 Where's the camera?
07:43 No.
07:44 LAUGHTER
07:45 Do you still need more players?
07:47 Oh, obviously that's what every Chelsea manager wants, and usually they get it.
07:53 Yeah, I know I can't say anything about that, to be honest.
08:00 So sorry.
08:02 Jürgen, I saw the full-official policing where one coach can go forward each time,
08:08 do you understand that rule?
08:10 Yeah, it's in a Champions League like that anyway.
08:13 I think it's only for one team a real problem.
08:18 Newcastle.
08:19 LAUGHTER
08:21 Sorry.
08:24 What happened?
08:25 No, obviously we have first-team coaches, we have assistants,
08:29 they are all lively and it's absolutely fine,
08:32 and we have Chas who got used to it a bit around the set-piece,
08:35 Pete Garvett, so we got up and then the full-official told me,
08:38 "What happens if I sit down?"
08:40 "Yeah, then you can sit down, it's absolutely fine."
08:43 So we need to get used to it, but it's fine.
08:46 Thank you, everyone.
08:48 See you, bye-bye.
08:49 Thank you.
08:50 Thank you.