Klopp praises Watford as Liverpool crash to defeat
Jurgen Klopp took Liverpool’s first Premier League defeat of the season on the chin and congratulated Watford on their performance.
The Hornets became the first team in the Premier League this season to beat the Reds with a 3-0 win at Vicarage Road, and Klopp says Nigel Pearson’s men deserve the headlines.
A second-half brace from Ismaila Sarr put the Hornets in control before the Senegal attacker set up Troy Deeney 18 minutes from time to provide the cherry on top of a fine performance.
It ended the Reds unbeaten run of 44 league games, meaning they fall short of matching Arsenal’s Invincibles from the 2003-04 campaign, who had gone the season and overall 49 matches without defeat.
The first Premier League loss for Liverpool in over a year does little to their hopes of winning the title, but ensured they missed out on including equalling Manchester City’s run of 19 straight top flight wins.
The result came as a shock to most, but not to Klopp, who said he has seen lots of results like this in football, so he cannot be surprised.
Jürgen Klopp felt @WatfordFC were deserved winners as #LFC suffered a first @premierleague defeat of the season.
Full post-match reaction…https://t.co/8U7pWvjsbL
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 29, 2020
He felt the scoreline was a bit harsh but Watford should be praised for the win.
“The most important thing is congratulations Watford, well deserved,” he said. “That is what should be the headline. We didn’t perform like we should have and Watford performed exactly like they wanted.”
After losing at Atletico Madrid on February 18, Liverpool have now suffered two defeats in three games in all competitions.
When quizzed on missing out on becoming an invincible like Arsenal, Klopp again reiterated he was not focused on that achievement.
“I see it rather positive because the closer we get to these records, I am not bothered, but I am not sure how other people think about that so from now on we can play free football and don’t have to defend or try to get the record,” he added. “We just try to win football games again and that is what we will do.”
