Lots of positives for Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool close in on top four

Posted Thursday, March 02, 2023 by PA

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp praised his players for their response to having a goal disallowed as they bounced back to beat Wolves 2-0 at Anfield.

Darwin Nunez thought he had made the breakthrough in the 66th minute when he fired past Jose Sa only for VAR to advise referee Paul Tierney to view the pitchside monitor for a foul by Diogo Jota.

However, they recovered from that setback to take the lead within seven minutes as Virgil van Dijk nodded home from close range before Mohamed Salah scored his 20th goal of the season, making it six years in a row at the club he has reached that landmark.

Lots of positives for Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool close in on top four — Mohamed Salah celebrates his 20th goal of the campaign (Peter Byrne/PA)

Victory – and a fourth successive clean sheet in the Premier League – moved the Reds up to sixth in the table, six points behind fourth-placed Tottenham with a game in hand.

Klopp said: “I thought the whole story of the game is an important one for us to take. I think we did a lot of good stuff in the first half, played the way we had to play.

“We didn’t create that many clear-cut chances, the best one was probably the header from Harvey Elliott which he missed.

“Second half, around the disallowed goal already we increased the pressure and these kind of things.

“I think you all saw the (disallowed) goal now a couple of times back and when you see it in slow-motion you see the contact then, but I still think it was a goal – but that’s not important anymore.

“The players don’t have a replay and for them it’s a clear goal of course. Then you have to react.

“I was not worried but of course then you watch it, how the boys react – and the reaction was really good.

“Then you force the goal and then the second goal was exceptional play – a really good counter-attack, each pass was perfect.

“Then we controlled it again. So, it was a good performance from us and a really important one.

“And of course again a clean sheet, which is extremely helpful. These are all positives for us, all good.”

Big VVD heading us into the lead in #LIVWOL 😁 pic.twitter.com/cetbc87wEg
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 2, 2023

Wolves had just one shot on target and boss Julen Lopetegui admitted his side did not deserve anything from the game.

“It was frustrating because we didn’t get anything here but we didn’t deserve to get anything,” he said.

“Maybe in the first half but in the second half we didn’t keep the rhythm and when they scored it was more difficult of course.

“We lost one match – it’s a pity but we have to change out mindset very fast as in three days we have another important match (at home to Tottenham). But this wasn’t a good match for us.”