Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has revealed what the situation was in the dressing room after their first defeat of the Premier League season against Watford.
The Reds were on a 44-game winning run before their 3-0 loss against Watford at Vicarage Road, which means they will not finish the season unbeaten.
Although Liverpool are expected to lift the league title and end their 30-year wait, the element of invincibility, which has been achieved just once in the Premier League era, will be absent.
Klopp didn’t seem too bogged down after the heavy defeat against Watford, and has told the media that criticism is always present, but he didn’t have any special speech to gee up the players after their defeat.
“We criticise them all the time, we criticised them after the United game, the Leicester game, the Man City game – criticism is not somebody telling you are too silly to play football, criticism is telling somebody what went wrong,”
“I know maybe a little bit which direction your question goes, but how I said: we win a game and after the game the boys immediately get a five-minute summary of what I have seen already or what is still in my mind about the game.
“Everybody can then leave the dressing room straight because I am not shouting at them, I didn’t do it today, I didn’t do it after other games, but criticism can happen all the time.
“We never stopped being critical with ourselves,” Klopp told the reporters after the game.
Liverpool still have a 22-point lead over Manchester City, and still need just 12 points or four wins to lift the title.
One good thing about the defeat against Watford is Liverpool can now win the title at the Etihad, should both Manchester City and Klopp’s side win their league games until the clash on 5th April.
