Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool's win over Manchester City proves they can play well without Philippe Coutinho
The result meant City’s unbeaten league record ended at 30 games
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Your support makes all the difference.Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Manchester City was “the right statement” to show they can do it without Philippe Coutinho, and also the only way to play against the previously unbeaten league leaders. In their first match without the Brazilian since his move to Barcelona, Liverpool still put in a stunning attacking display, at one point in the second half going 4-1 up.
“It was the right statement,” Klopp said. “It is not that I said in the meeting, ‘Boys by the way it would help if you could win tonight and nobody would speak about Phil Coutinho anymore’ because we like to talk about him actually and he was probably still jumping in his living room in Barcelona happy about the win tonight.
“Of course it is important for us to show it is possible to play without him and we did that. That is a very important statement, absolutely. We knew before the game we could only get three points, there are not more. We got them how I think in a very important moment as well so it feels good for tonight and now we have a long week to prepare for Swansea and we should use that.”
The result meant City’s unbeaten league record ended at 30 games and, after much debate about how anyone would actually beat them, Klopp argued that there are “no alternatives” to going at them and bravery.
“You have no alternatives to beat City – you could win the lottery, they tackle each other and then you can stand deep in your own box and hope nothing happens but that it is not really likely. Being Liverpool we should not try this way. Then you don’t have a lot of alternatives, you have none. You need to be brave and you need to play football.
“The pressing in the second half, round the goals, was different planet, just outstanding. What do you say? It’s a cool movie. City are brilliant organised and playing football in the first half we did in the spaces we had, that is all. There is no alternative to play against them and that is why we tried it again. I cannot make a match plan to avoid criticism after a game. I couldn’t be less interested in that. We wanted to win and the boys deserved it.
“Maybe it is historical day today, maybe it is the only game they lose this season. They are just strong and really good but I really think we deserved the win against a really good team. No injury issues – David Silva didn’t play but replacement is [Ilkay] Gundogan so not too bad. We played them really well. They deserved the tight result but we could have won 4-1 as well.
“We were really the deserved winner. If you look back to the first game it was like this until we got the red card but after that it was not the same game anymore. It is good to know for us we can do it. We did it very often but in a game like this it is more difficult because everyone expects it. You need to deal with these expectations and we did really well.”
He also said the seven-goal game was an advertisement for the Premier League, and football in general.
“I really respect the quality of the opponent. You can see what they do, you can see Man City five times a week, you watch it and see it and know you have to avoid this and deny that. It is all possible but quite difficult. You need really a good football team to do that and thank god I have one. That makes sense to try it and we tried very hard today. It was just a joy to watch how both teams threw everything on the pitch.
“The wind made it a bit tricky here and there – the first goal we conceded, the fourth goal they conceded the influence of the wind was quite obviously. Both teams tried to play football, defended really well without a lot of hard fouls, a few tactical ones, especially from City in a period when we were really on track. It is a nice commercial for Premier League football and the whole world was watching. If somebody didn’t watch football until now then they would say, ‘that’s why you watch it all the time’. I’m really happy about it.”
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