Jurgen Klopp has defended the amount of changes to his Liverpool team as they were held 2-2 at West Ham United.
Klopp made five changes in total from Wednesday night’s disappointing 2-0 loss to Everton in the Merseyside derby as Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ibrahima Konate and Curtis Jones all dropped to the bench.
After Andy Robertson’s strike and an own goal from goalkeeper Alphonse Areola had cancelled out Jarrod Bowen’s opener, Michail Antonio headed home an equaliser as the visiting Reds were forced to settle for a point.
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It leaves Liverpool two points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, who meet Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby on Sunday afternoon and Klopp refused to admit a mistake in making so many changes to his lineup on Saturday lunchtime.
“[We’ve played] four games in 10 days,” Klopp said. “You find a manager who can play the same team in four games that will be the next generation, not me any more. I tried to do what I think was right and I thought the boys who came in did really well. Cody Gakpo didn’t start (last time) because of his private situation (partner gave birth).
“Harvey Elliott played really well, Jarell Quansah did really well, as a centre-back you are from time to time kind of around how goals are scored that’s how it is, besides that he played a really good game, super important for us. I tried to do the right thing.
“I didn’t think the game looked like West Ham would score in the next few seconds to be 100% honest, it happened anyway. We could have changed Robbo, you could see he was on the edge but it was tricky.”
Klopp added: “Their first three changes were just to keep controlling the game and score the third one. That was the idea. Then it was 2-2 and it was still the aim to score the third one anyway. I didn’t feel it was a moment that West Ham would score, no.”
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
