JURGEN KLOPP ACKNOWLEDGED Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town was a “big relief” as his side returned to winning ways in the Premier League on Saturday.
After last Sunday’s harrowing 4-1 loss to Tottenham at Wembley left them with just one win in their last six league outings, Liverpool were under pressure to produce a response in front of their own fans at Anfield.
The hosts laboured against resolute opponents in the first half, albeit they missed a glorious chance to go ahead before the interval when Mohamed Salah saw his penalty saved by Huddersfield goalkeeper Jonas Lossl.
However, Klopp’s demand for his players to be more positive paid off after the break, Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum all finding the net to secure three much-needed points.
“We had not the best week as you can imagine – it’s not that we don’t take the situation really seriously, it’s really important for us,” Klopp told the club’s website.
“Tottenham was the worst game we’ve played in this season so far and you cannot ignore it, but you have to work with it and that’s what we did.
“It can happen, especially with the style Huddersfield played today – a rather defensive style and we were a little bit stiff. It was not fluent, we had too many players behind the ball, it was clear we wanted to give them no opportunity for counter-attack and stuff like this, but you don’t need seven players behind the ball to protect the counter-attack.
“That’s how it looked a little bit in the first half, so it was not too difficult to fix at half-time. You could see immediately in the second half really, we had more players between the decisive lines and so it was more difficult for Huddersfield to defend.
“We had more chances, but it’s a big relief to be honest because the pressure was there. There is no doubt about that. I could hear that people didn’t like the first half too much, I know it’s hard work but in the end probably nobody remembers the first half because the second half was really much better.”
Klopp went up against fellow German David Wagner for the first time in a competitive fixture, with the two putting their strong friendship to one side for 90 minutes.
Visiting manager Wagner – who received a kiss on the cheek from his compatriot straight after the final whistle – felt Huddersfield performed admirably to silence the home crowd before a poor header from Tommy Smith set up Sturridge to break the deadlock.
“It is not very often you see Liverpool so quiet for 60 minutes,” he told BBC Sport.
“The first goal was a problem for us. We did not have the best position to defend the long ball and we gave the assist for the first goal unfortunately.
“I am disappointed because the players have given good effort and worked hard. The game changed after that first goal. It looked very well until we conceded that first goal.”
