Luton Town 1-1 Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp shares why Reds players angered him

Follow us on Google Discover

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has criticised his players after they failed to counter-press against Luton Town on Sunday afternoon.

Liverpool players have felt the wrath of Jurgen Klopp after their counter-pressing wasn’t up to scratch against Luton Town.

The Reds headed to Kenilworth Road in search of another victory to continue their impressive Premier League season.

This proved to be a frustrating day though as Liverpool squandered a number of opportunities.

Former Manchester United talent Tahith Chong went and opened the scoring for Luton, leaving Liverpool on the brink of a defeat.

Luis Diaz popped up with an injury-time leveller though, sparing Liverpool’s blushes and securing a 1-1 draw.

Jurgen Klopp rages at his Liverpool players

This wasn’t Liverpool’s best day and it’s fair to say that boss Klopp was not impressed.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Klopp noted that his players played ‘without counter-pressing’ in the first half.

Counter-pressing – predominantly pressing aggressively after losing the ball in the opponent’s half – has been a key aspect of Liverpool’s style under Klopp.

The German felt that Liverpool didn’t show that side of their game at all in the first half, noting that his players barely won the ball back from Luton.

Klopp admitted that he took that personally given that it’s so important to his style of play, suggesting that the lack of counter-pressing was ‘not cool’.

“We played without counter-pressing in the first half which I almost take personally and I told the boys. I can’t remember a lot of times we won the ball back and that’s not cool,” said Klopp. “It’s one of these days. Time goes by and it’s not getting easier. It wasn’t our best day,” he added.

Just one of those days for Liverpool

Liverpool fans shouldn’t be too downbeat after this draw; after all, it was so nearly a defeat!

On another day, Liverpool would have coasted through this game but it just wasn’t to be today.

654 passes, 74% of possession, 24 shots, an xG over 3… but Liverpool had to wait until the dying stages to break Luton down.

The Reds just seemed slightly off-colour against the Hatters but we can imagine the Reds putting this right very quickly, no doubt firing on all cylinders against other opponents.