Jurgen Klopp criticises two Liverpool players' performances despite victory at Crystal Palace
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Loading... - Siomi Kennedy
- 21 Aug 2021
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Jurgen Klopp's pursuit of perfection has seen him call out two of his Liverpool players despite pulling off a fine win at Crystal Palace as talk builds over a potential title challenge.
James Milner's penalty and Sadio Mane's breakaway second clinched a fine win at Selhurst Park on Monday night as the Reds bid to win their first league title in 29 years.
But despite securing the three points, Klopp was not entirely satisfied, highlighting one particular area of the pitch he believes can improve, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson called on to give more.
"It was not a brilliant performance – our full-backs can play 70 or 80 percent better – but I’m very happy with the result," Klopp told Sky Sports.
"Palace play a system they play all the time with high-quality players. They are a really good football team with a simple, but clear plan.
"They tried to cause us problems with the long balls. I don’t know a lot of centre-backs in the world who can deal with Christian Benteke like Virgil van Dijk did tonight.
"It was difficult for us to be completely safe in this situation but we were there and we helped each other avoid big problems."
Klopp is not getting carried away though and batted away title talk.
"It’s very early. I couldn’t care less really. We are not in a race with other Premier League teams each weekend. I was not 100 percent sure tonight in the first half that we would score.
"You have to play it as it is and be a real challenger, play ugly, do all that type of stuff. Our target is to be a difficult opponent. It is too strong to say anything after two match days. You can discuss whatever you want – just do it without us."
