Jurgen Klopp, who was present at a press conference in advance of Liverpool’s match against Ajax on the second day of the Champions League, reflected on the thrashing that his side received in Naples (4-1 defeat).
Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool coach, defeated last Tuesday in Naples (4-1) and who receives Ajax this Tuesday in the Champions League :
“We are aware that we need to respond. (…) I watched the battle over and over again, and it was a truly disturbing sight to behold. (…) We showed the participants the sequences, so they were already aware of them; nonetheless, examining the photographs enables them to be brought into much greater focus. (…) Even though we’ve had some poor games before, this was easily the worst one since I’ve been here. (…) You have to have an understanding of what took place. I believe that the problem lies at the individual level since, of the 11 starters, eight were plainly below their usual level. This leads me to conclude that the problem lies at the individual level. In football, individual issues are addressed by the team as a whole, and that is the approach that we are going to take here. Everything rests on having a very strong defense, and that is what we focused on improving.