Jurgen Klopp ‘not happy’ with flat Anfield atmosphere after exchanging words with fans in Liverpool’s 5-1 Carabao Cup win.
Jurgen Klopp has voiced his annoyance with the flat Anfield atmosphere in recent weeks. He has further encouraged Liverpool fans to back the team in a potential title-defining match against Arsenal on Saturday.
Klopp was seen gesticulating at a section of the Main Stand in the first half who were growing frustrated at a number of missed chances.
The German walked away shaking his head before offering an apologetic hand.
‘I was not overly happy with the atmosphere behind me,’ he said.
‘I was like, “What do you want?”. We changed the team a lot and we dominated West Ham. If I had been in the crowd I would have been on my toes”.
‘Was everyone down because we didn’t smash Manchester United? On Saturday (against Arsenal), we need Anfield to be on its toes from the first second. Without waiting for me to have an argument with the opposition coach or whatever”.
‘We need you. If it’s too much football in December, sorry, if you’re not in the right shape give your ticket to somebody else.’
This comes after the atmosphere has been rather subdued for the two home matches against Manchester United and West Ham this week.
Klopp was delighted with his team’s performance, though, and waxed lyrical on Curtis Jones, who scored a brace.
Klopp said: ‘He looked even better to be honest, because he added to his game the acceleration of the ball which is really important”.
‘He cannot do it against each opponent. But there are some opponents where he can do it, where you pass the first line and then you have to go with the ball. His second goal is a crazy goal because you go towards the penalty spot”.
‘It’s pretty rare but it is an important thing for him to do and was a really good game. Looked super fresh which was probably not surprising because he has not played thousands of minutes in recent weeks. In general the performance was good”.
‘Harvey (Elliott) thankfully interpreted the role as a right winger completely differently to Mo (Salah). Which is important because nobody should play like Mo. If Mo is not there, we have to play to our skillset and that is what Harvey did. It’s top.
‘Dom (Szoboszlai) looked really, really good. Wataru (Endo) looked really good. That’s the engine-room of the team.
‘In midfield, defensively the boys are there and offensively they are cheeky. Then you have Cody (Gakpo), really good game, and Darwin (Nunez) is a threat.
‘Our pressing was pretty good, they had long balls as well and how we defended at first maybe not that surprising with the boys we have there. But then the second ball was really good. We were ready for these hectic moments.
‘That was all good, really good tonight and I’m really happy about that. The boys we brought on made an impact. We change early which is helpful as well and now we recover and go again (against Arsenal on Saturday).’
On the next-round opponent, Fulham, Klopp added: ‘Fulham are really well set up. Really unlucky against Newcastle (with the red card). I’m not sure I would have given the red card. They are really strong. They want to go to Wembley as well.’