Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool lost their minds in defeat at Watford
Monday 21 December 2015 12:14, UK
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was disappointed by the reaction of his players to going behind as they lost 3-0 at Watford, saying 'we lost our minds.'
The Reds went 1-0 down after Adam Bogdan's dropped catch gave Ake the opportunity to score from close-range after just three minutes at Vicarage Road, but replays suggest that the Hungarian had both hands on the ball at the time of Ake's strike.
Klopp says that referee Mark Clattenburg should have disallowed the goal, but was more concerned with the lack of reaction from his players.
"We lost our minds after the first goal, we lost our compact formation after the first goal, we didn't play easy when we should have," he said.
"The pitch isn't the best one, but it's possible to play if you play easy football, you have to use the wind, not play against the wind.
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"That's what Watford did with the second goal. We made bigger faults than the ref today.
"It was a bad start to the game. In my opinion, it was a foul - but it was 1-0, and our reaction was really bad. We lost our mind, we didn't play football any more.
"The second goal, I'm not sure if he played a pass, he finished it well - but we defended it badly.
"The rules are really clear. It is (Bogdan's) fault - don't let the ball drop in that situation. But then he had both hands on the ball, no question.
"I think the referee didn't see it, it was the wrong decision, but we made a lot of wrong decisions today."
The former Dortmund coach accepted the result was 'very bad' and said he was hopeful that it would prove to be low point of his time in charge of the Reds.
"I would say hopefully it's the most disappointing moment in my whole Liverpool FC life," said Klopp. "We don't feel good today of course. We came here to do something really different from what you saw.
"Between what we wanted to do and what everybody could see, there's a big gap.
"I know how strong this team can be and it's my job to help them show it much more often than we have.
"It's not that bad. Today was bad. The result is very bad, but I'm really disappointed about the reaction on the first goal because things like this can happen."
The German boss introduced Divock Origi after 45 minutes in an attempt to swing the game in Liverpool's favour, but a brace from Odion Ighalo secured a comfortable win for the Hornets.
"We tried a little bit in the first half but we changed it for the second, which was very good. We could have scored one or two goals. But everyone can see that we didn't. Game over," Klopp added.
"The way we started the second half was OK. If we get one goal, then everybody knows that the game is open again - but we couldn't do this, and we have to accept this defeat."