Liverpool missed the opportunity to end 2020 five points clear at the top of the Premier League when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Newcastle United on Wednesday.
Jurgen Klopp’s side produced a number of good chances, but couldn’t find a way past inspirational Karl Darlow, who made fantastic saves to deny players like Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
Here’s what the boss had to say after the game.
“I’m not happy with the result but the match is already played,” he said (via the club’s official website). “I’m not too frustrated or anything – it’s football, if you don’t use your chances it’s hard to win a game.
“But you can have a draw with a bad performance or you can draw a draw with a good performance, and tonight we had a draw with a good performance. We just didn’t use the odds and that’s why I agree with the game. That’s it. “
I couldn’t quite cross the line tonight, but finish the year leading the league and a lot of games to come, after a better performance #YNWA pic.twitter.com/fIQ6I0xWTE
– James Milner (@JamesMilner) December 30, 2020
“Look, not scoring is a problem if you don’t create. It’s like that. If you’re creating, it’s just momentum, it’s for now. But if you keep creating, you’ll score, that’s it. I know we will score again, it’s not our problem at the moment.
“We had to show a reaction from the second half against West Brom because in this game we lost a bit of the intrigue in the second half, it seemed to me that we were 1-0 and not 1-0. Tonight, it was a very good reaction to that, without getting the result. But we all know it: you win this game 1-0 and everyone is in heaven. And we should have won at least 1-0, but we didn’t. what we have to accept.
“But I can work with this performance, it’s important. I can work with the things I saw tonight. We can build on that, we don’t have to change massively in the next three or four days and say, ‘OK it’s bad, we have to try to compete in another way. That’s why I’m fine, that’s all. “
“We signed Thiago because we thought he was a good player, so you can imagine we would love to have him in the squad. It’s clear.
“What the other boys did when he wasn’t available is absolutely amazing. James Milner, for example, played a great game tonight in midfield. Really. So, yes, that’s good. [he is back], he’s a great player. I think the 20 minutes, 12 rounds were brilliant and then he felt the intensity, but that’s normal. He trained exactly twice with the team. There is still physical work to be done, still pace to be obtained.
“Shaq [Xherdan Shaqiri] is back and this is, by the way, the best news tonight – the boys are back and as far as I know at the time no one got hurt tonight which is very important. That means we can probably go with the same team to Southampton. “
Center-back Joel Matip suffered a groin injury in the recent 1-1 draw with West Brom and should have faced a long period of sidelining.
“The normal thing with this kind of injury, [he will be out for] about three weeks, ”Klopp added.
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