Jurgen Klopp had to see his team put on a terrible show in Toulouse…and then go through another nightmare.
The Liverpool boss was left upset and frustrated by his young team’s performance as they tumbled to defeat in the Europa League, blowing the chance to go to the knockout stages with two games to spare.
And later, as the French club held his press conference in a TENT outside the stadium, surrounded by their fervent fans yelling and banging on the sides of the structure, he remarked, “We were about as organized as this press conference!” Who made the decision to hold the press conference here?!”
In the press conference, Klopp couldn’t even be heard, and the poor interpreter who had to convey his comments in French had a difficult assignment among absolutely wild surroundings.
The game ended in controversy in the seventh minute of stoppage time, when the Bulgarian referee looked to award a Liverpool equalizer following a lengthy VAR review, but the goal was later ruled out for a severe handball.
Klopp, on the other hand, refused to hide behind another faulty VAR judgment, instead lashing out at his team: “We deserved to lose because they (Toulouse) won pretty much all of the decisive challenges.”
“There were too many situations where we should have won the ball but didn’t, and on top of that, we gave the ball away easily, once for a goal that was disallowed and once for a goal that was allowed.”
“On the counter-attack, our last line was too deep, and our defense was simply not good enough.” When you give up three goals, you have to score a lot more goals to win. We actually conceded five, but two were not permitted.
“Obviously, that was close enough that we scored a point. That would have improved the game and made the table feel more comfortable. But I still believe the game must be accepted. It was well deserved.”
Klopp, on the other hand, argued that Jarrell Quansah’s goal, which gave Liverpool a fortunate draw, should have stood. Instead, Alexis MacAllister was ruled to have handballed, and the manager stated, “I saw only the video back and it’s not a handball for me.” It was with his chest, and I don’t see any contact with his arm. I don’t deny that they have a different point of view (angle).
“I was thinking ‘hang on, where’s the free-kick?’ pretty long before we scored the goal.” But I’m more concerned because I would have rather that we played better. That is my primary concern tonight. More aggressive in football terms.”
