Jurgen Klopp refuses to blame Joel Matip and Loris Karius after West Ham draw
Monday 12 December 2016 06:57, UK
Jurgen Klopp refused to criticise Loris Karius and Joel Matip after Liverpool slipped up against West Ham at Anfield.
Karius was unable to keep out Dimitri Payet's first-half free kick in the 2-2 draw, while a Matip mistake led to Michail Antonio's goal that gave West Ham a 2-1 lead.
Divock Origi levelled the game up early in the second half but Liverpool couldn't find a winning goal.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher believed Karius was at fault for the opening goal, advising the goalkeeper to concentrate more on his goalkeeping than responding to his critics. However, Klopp took a different view.
"The first goal was a wonderful free-kick and the second was an unlucky," Klopp told Sky Sports.
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"We shouldn't have lost the ball before we made the foul for the free-kick. The passes played were deflected and Joel, who played a fantastic game, couldn't clear the ball and then Loris was surprised like everybody.
"It was a big surprise for everybody that we didn't clear it. We scored a wonderful goal and created plenty of offensive situations - we should have had more."
The result means third-place Liverpool are now six points behind leaders Chelsea and three behind second-place Arsenal, but Klopp was happy with his team's performance level.
"In the second half we had lots of situations in the box," Klopp said. "I'm pretty sure we could have had one or two penalties given. We have to take it. It felt like we was in their box for the whole game but it's not that simple. It's all about making the right decisions and you need a little bit of luck.
"A draw doesn't feel too good, but it doesn't feel too bad either."