Jürgen Klopp Admits Liverpool 'Lost the Plot' in Aston Villa Mauling
By Tom Gott
Liverpool's Sunday went about as badly as you could imagine. Not only did they lose goalkeeper Alisson to injury, but they were then comprehensively thumped 7-2 by Aston Villa of all sides.
Two consolation strikes from Mohamed Salah were nowhere near enough to stop the onslaught from Dean Smith's side, who ran riot against the defending champions in what could well be the craziest result we'll see all season.
Let's see what Jürgen Klopp had to say.
Liverpool 'Lost the Plot'
"It looked like we lost the plot after it went to 1-0," Klopp told BBC Sport. "Who wants to lose 7-2? Years ago we told ourselves we wanted to create history. That was history but obviously the wrong type.
"We had big chances which we did not use, but when you concede seven I'm not sure you can say it would have been 7-7.
"We made too many mistakes and massive ones obviously. It started with the first goal and around the goals we made massive mistakes. We lost balls in the wrong area and did not protect properly. It looked like we lost the plot after it went to 1-0. It is not an excuse.
"Normally you can be 1-0 down and do the stuff you want to do. We created but did not protect ourselves properly so each ball we lost was a massive counter attack. That is why we conceded and three goals were deflected. It's unlucky but it is not a coincidence because it means it was not a proper block. There is nobody to blame apart from me and us."
'Players Must Prove Themselves'
"Is it a one-off? I would like to think so but the proof of that will be in the next couple of weeks or months," he said (via the Liverpool Echo). "A game like that should not happen, 100%.
“I don’t think I lost that high. It is not a personal defeat but it is a massive one.
“It is important how we react. The only problem is we cannot react tomorrow. These boys are very self-critical and they know everyone has his hand in this result. We have to deal with it and we will deal with it.”
On Roy Keane's 'Sloppy' Comment
Klopp clashed with pundit Roy Keane over the former Manchester United man's claim that Liverpool were 'sloppy' in their 3-1 win over Arsenal, and he referenced that comment once again after this one.
"Last week, Mr Keane said we defended sloppy," Klopp said (via the Daily Star). "Tonight it was not sloppy, it was just bad. I have to admit that, I cannot change that now."
Virgil van Dijk on Taking Responsibility
Some bonus comments here from Virgil van Dijk, who demanded that the team step up and blame themselves in an attempt to figure out how to prevent this from happening ever again.
"If we are looking at ourselves, it felt like it was one of those performances where we just weren't 100% at it from the start until the finish," he told Sky Sports (via the Daily Mail).
"Obviously the goals we conceded we should have done better but also the chances we had – because we had many – we should have done better as well. Overall we're all very disappointed. We shouldn't lose with the numbers we did and now it's key to stick together and don't let this happen again hopefully.
"We have to be very hard with each other – and we will be. It's key to not get crazy or anything but we have to be stepping it up. The performance level between the last game against Arsenal for the league and today was too big. All of us, everyone has to take responsibility."