Premier League
Jurgen Klopp Vows Strong Response After Europa League Defeat
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has assured a strong response from his team following their 3-0 Europa League quarter-final loss to Atalanta at home. The team is preparing to face Crystal Palace in Sunday’s Premier League clash at Anfield.
Gianluca Scamacca scored on both sides of half-time, while Mario Pasalic sealed an impressive victory for Atalanta in Thursday’s first leg. This defeat marked Liverpool’s joint heaviest home loss in European competition.
While Liverpool aims to overturn the deficit in the second leg in Italy next week to keep their European title hopes alive, their upcoming match against Palace holds significant importance. The Merseyside club is actively engaged in a tight Premier League title race, currently sitting in second place with 71 points level with Arsenal and one point ahead of Manchester City with seven games remaining in the season.
“The good thing about a really bad performance is that you can play better. We should start from there. I told the boys ‘take it home’, nobody will sleep great and tomorrow we come together,” Klopp told reporters.
“The boys recover and all the others get a proper session. We go from there and on Saturday we start preparing for Palace. Yes, we have to show a reaction. 100%, that is clear” He continued “But I cannot plan the reaction 20 minutes after the game. I will think about that. It is now not the first time in my life that I lost a football game, unfortunately.”
Klopp made six changes to his team for the loss against Atalanta, opting to have Trent Alexander-Arnold, Stefan Bajcetic, and Diogo Jota, who had recently recovered from injuries, on the bench.
The manager emphasized that players coming back from injuries must now push themselves to quickly regain full fitness, stating that there is no room for a gradual return “My job is not the easiest in the world, not the most difficult as well. It’s about when you have players you need to make sure that you get them together on the pitch and then it works out somehow”.
He continues “We need them all and we need them all aggressive, fit, going for it, a bit angry, full of desire, stuff like this, and not so much dealing with your situation, like ‘I’ve no rhythm, I didn’t play for ages’, stuff like this. You have to try to avoid that.”
