Jurgen Klopp wants Liverpool to keep ‘showing their true colors’ after they won their third straight win and climbed to sixth in the Premier League.
Liverpool came from behind to beat West Ham 2-1 at the London Stadium on Wednesday thanks to goals from Cody Gakpo and Joel Matip that wiped out Lucas Paqueta’s early debut.
West Ham boss David Moyes was furious after referee Chris Kavanagh as well as VAR dismissed a handball appeal against Thiago Alcantara in the penalty area.
“I really enjoyed the performance,” Klopp said at the post-match press conference. “First half, I think we were exceptional. Controlled the game from the very beginning, made one mistake and bam – 1-0. I must say, great goal – what a scream – but [we] kept calm, continued to play, scored our screamer and controlled the game.
“I liked the second half too. We had to really dig in then because of West Ham’s physical strength, they always have a chance to come back if you don’t kill the game and we didn’t. [We] had great chances after set pieces, I don’t understand how we didn’t use them – I didn’t understand this, but then [we] scored a great goal from a set piece.
“I heard now about handball [but] we were on the other side of it. I thought that he just fell on the ball, but I understand that Moses sees it, probably in a completely different way.
“At the end of the day, if you look at the game, I think we are well-deserved winners and that is very important to me. If we got a point, I’m still happy with the game, not the result – [but] now I’m happy with both.”
The victory put Liverpool six points behind the top four, although he played two more games than fourth-placed Manchester United and one more than third-placed Newcastle United.
Of the Champions League race, Klopp said: “I don’t see the race yet because we are not in a position to race. The only thing we can do is win football matches if that puts pressure on other teams that are not in our hands because we don’t play them. [United and Newcastle].
“I want us to finish the season the best we can. I want us to take something from this season for next year, if it’s a European competition, great, if not, we have to accept it and move on.
“I want us to, at least for a few weeks, [to] to show our real face – and not that beautiful, that ugly, that beautiful, that ugly. It’s really hard to do. So now we have done it for three games – three and a half, the second half against Arsenal was also brilliant.
“We’ve played here many times, it’s always hard. In terms of results, things looked better from time to time, but the goals we scored were then counterattacks, things like that, quick reactions and things like that. Today we controlled the game like never before against West Ham and I really enjoyed it.”
Klopp previously told BT Sport how pleased he was once again with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance in his new hybrid role between right-back and midfield, with the 24-year-old claiming an assist for Gakpo and making more passes at the opposition. twice as many as anyone else on the field (62).
The Liverpool manager refused to accept the idea that Alexander-Arnold’s new role saw West Ham lose chances on the right side and answered a question about one specific chance that ended up being narrowly denied by Virgil van Dijk Michael Antonio in the first half: “It had nothing to do with the role of Trent.
“We had three players on the other side in the call, so we just didn’t win the ball. This means we go to the side of the ball, this is the risk you take, then you must win the ball.
“Three to one, we don’t win the ball, then the other side is open… it has nothing to do with Trent Alexander-Arnold.”