Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp reflects on playing Europa League football next season
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp wasn’t too pleased with his team’s performance which led to them only getting a 1-1 draw against a plucky Aston Villa.
After Ollie Watkins missed the penalty in the first half, Jacob Ramsey put the away side ahead with an exquisite finish with his left foot.
Liverpool huffed and puffed after that and had a goal disallowed early in the second half. It was a subjective decision for the referee to decide whether Virgil van Dijk was onside or not when the ball was pinballing in the penalty area. He made a call to rule Cody Gakpo’s goal out.
Very late on, Mohamed Salah found Roberto Firmino with an exceptional cross for the departing Brazilian to score and at least save the day for the Reds. Here’s what Klopp said about the performance and the prospects of playing Europa League next season (h/t BBC):
“Frustrating wherever you sit. We made it a proper fight – chasing the Champions League in general. They got more points. We would have loved to have made it exciting for another week but we couldn’t do that.
“We will make it [the Europa League] our competition. I am not that spoilt. That we are already qualified for the Europa League is incredible with all these teams around us. That’s really difficult and we did it, that is good. For so long we couldn’t even hear the sound of the Champions League, that’s how far away we were. The Europe League us absolutely fine.”
As much as Europa League sounds fine for now, it will sting when the next season starts. But, we are where we are and the transition period is upon us.
This game also showed that while this team won the last seven league games and things looked rosy, there are a lot of things that need to be done in the summer to get them firing again from August onwards.
Getting the new players will only be half of the job. Klopp and his staff have to have a fantastic pre-season with the squad to make them understand the roles and train the new system well.
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For now, the hope is that the transfer business is done as early as possible for the players to join the pre-season squad from day one. Doing that helps in their integration process for sure.
