|
WATFORD -- Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool defended the majority of set pieces "really well" in the 3-3 draw at Watford on Saturday, but admitted his side still need to improve on them after conceding from two corner kicks. Liverpool let a 3-2 lead slip in the dying seconds as Miguel Britos scored to give Marco Silva a point in his first competitive game in charge of Watford. Stefano Okaka opened the scoring off a corner inside eight minutes and then Britos capitalised on the Reds failing to clear a dead-ball situation in injury time. "I'm not fed up talking about it," Klopp told a news conference. "If you want to sum it up to this, then only you saw it that we had problems with set pieces. "But, of course, we defended most of them really well. But at the end, is it enough if you concede one goal? No, of course not. "It was really good. We had two exactly the same chances off set pieces and they defended them with luck. Do they have no problems after set pieces and we have big problems after set pieces? "We have to work on it, but that's our life. For us, different things are important. Physicality in the beginning and not being ready for these things. That's one thing -- it can happen in the first matchday and we have to adapt to all these things. No direction again [in the] first half, second half [was] much better. "[There are] a lot of things we can work on and at the moment we have one point. I wait for the moment when it feels better. But it already will feel better because it's one point and I saw a lot of good things. Now we have to prepare for the next game." Goals from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah put Liverpool on their way to victory at Vicarage Road until Britos' equaliser. Liverpool were without Philippe Coutinho, who missed the side's Premier League opener with what the club say is a "sore back". Coutinho handed in a transfer request on Friday afternoon just hours after Liverpool's owners, Fenway Sports Group, issued a statement saying Coutinho would not be sold. "I had no time to think about it today because that's how it is with all other players who are not available," Klopp said of the situation surrounding the Brazilian. "The day started pretty early and I had to prepare a match, even if you could not see in all moments of the game that we prepared it. But we actually did. I cannot say anything else. "What I can say, as manager in a football club, I have bosses. If bosses decide, for example, we sell a player then I have to accept it. Then if they don't sell him then I'm not involved anymore and I'm responsible for all players, not just one or two. "I cannot say anything about it, but I only work with the players I have. That is what I was always doing. How can it change something for me? I didn't make the decision. It's just like it is." When asked whether Coutinho's request changed the club's stance, Klopp replied: "I don't think so. I think it's pretty clear what FSG said about it."
|
