Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool don’t deserve to win Premier League playing like that

KloppPalace1

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made no attempt to hide his dismay at his side’s wretched performance in the first half against Crystal Palace, saying the Reds do not deserve to be crowned champions if they continue in that vein.

Picking up exactly where they had left off against Atalanta in midweek despite being able to field a more full-strength lineup, Klopp’s men were sluggish and sloppy throughout the opening 45 minutes and more than deserved to be a goal down to Eberechi Eze’s 14th-minute strike.

Klopp: ‘We feel really, really rubbish’

Liverpool created plenty of chances after the break, but were unable to apply the finish they needed to draw back level and kick-start another comeback that would have restored some momentum to their hunt for the Premier League title.

Instead, they remain in third place behind Manchester City and Arsenal with just six games left to play, as well as needing a remarkable second leg performance against Atalanta to overturn their three-goal aggregate deficit.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Klopp said after the Palace game: “Here we stand, we lost the game and feel really really rubbish.

“We need now a bit of time to process that because it’s a really bad moment. It’s the second home game in a row we’ve lost.

“We’re not used to that, we have to be able to see how we react on that, we have to work on that definitely, and we will do that, of course.

“But I cannot now stand here and say ‘that’s it, that’s the starting point for us for the rest of the season’. It doesn’t feel like that in this moment.

“Maybe tomorrow I will feel like that, we will see, and then I will tell the boys that, not you.”

Klopp: ‘We will go for it, we decide that’

Klopp refused to try and put a brave face on things in the immediate aftermath of the game, adding: “I cannot pick anybody up in a moment when I feel it myself. That would be not honest.

“It’s not like I can stand here feeling really average or below and just tell them ‘oh, come on get over it’. Give me a few minutes, I cannot change the world in interviews. I need time to think about it.

“Let me say it like this: if we play like in the first half, why should we win the league?

“If we play in the second half, we can pick up points here or there, definitely, if we play as well as we can. We will go for it, we decide that. But not now…in the next few days.”