“Four performances were OK”- Jurgen Klopp rips into Liverpool players after Manchester City loss

Jurgen Klopp rips into Liverpool players after 4-1 Manchester City loss

Manager Jurgen Klopp has defended Jordan Henderson along with three other players after Liverpool’s 4-1 loss against Manchester City earlier today (1 April) at the Etihad.

Liverpool, once again, were awful once they fell behind. Mohamed Salah opened the scoring in the 17th minute but Manchester City scored on either side of half-time to take the lead. Two more goals followed as the visitors completely capitulated.

After the game, Klopp expressed his clear dissatisfaction with the Liverpool players but had a surprising list of names he said were ‘OK’. The German tactician said (h/t Guardian):

“Four performances were OK: the two midfielders [Jordan] Henderson and Fabinho worked a lot, Cody [Gakpo] and Alisson. If you want to get something here 14 or 15 players have to be on top of their game and that was not the case.”

If he picks out four names to defend, then that means the others have clearly been criticised. That’s okay. They should be. The whole team were awful, especially in the second half.

But it is odd seeing him defend Henderson and Gakpo here. Fans love the duo as much as the next Liverpool player but they were subpar against the Cityzens.

While Manchester City’s midfielders Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan were providing creativity and goals, while Rodri shielded the defence, our midfield trio was doing… well… no one knows.

Hendo, Fabinho and Harvey Elliott were not good going forward and neither were they effective in helping the team at the back. The skipper managed to win just one of his four ground duels. Gakpo was barely visible up front, although Alisson Becker did have a decent game – as he has throughout our miserable season.

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Henderson does not seem good enough to start weekly anymore and there is an urgent, urgent need to bring in new, world-class names in midfield this summer. That is where we lost the game. The defenders didn’t cover themselves in glory either but there was barely any protection from the midfield.