It was supposed to be the game of the Premier League weekend, but instead it was simply no contest. Manchester City thrashed Liverpool 4-1 and in the post match presser, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp did not mince words.
He flat out said that his side couldn’t have won, even if they were given an extra player advantage to work with.
Manchester City midfielder Rodri received a yellow card, and his challenge on Cody Gakpo, some believe, should or at least could have resulted in a second booking. Thus, he would have seen red and then City would have gone down to 10 men.
“I didn’t see it good enough,” Klopp responded to a query on this topic.
“Could he have got a second yellow? Yeah. I am not sure we would have won against 10 men.”
Losing 4-1 to City, especially when you consider that Mr. All-World Erling Haaland was out due to injury, is eye-popping. But Klopp also said that his team was lucky City didn’t get greedier, and run up the score line, because they easily could have.
Jurgen Klopp also said that only four his players came to play today, insinuating that the rest were all disaster class.
“Four performances were OK,” the German said.
“The two midfielders, Hendo and Fab, worked a lot, Cody and Ali and that is very difficult. If you want to get something here, 14 or 15 players have to be on top of their game and that was not the case.”
Up next is a league fixture rescheduled from earlier in the season, at Chelsea FC. It will see Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool take on their “twin”- another club coming off very recent top level glory, but absolutely sputtering this season.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.