Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri and Fabinho react after the match. (Source: Reuters)With points dropped for the second consecutive game and a title challenge getting jittery, Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp is keen to transmit serenity. After all, Liverpool is still top of the English Premier League by three points despite being held 1-1 by West Ham on Monday after also drawing with Leicester in the previous game.
“It’s not about pressure,” Klopp said. “It’s about enjoying the situation you are in it. We have 62 points. We lost one game in the (league) season so far, which is very positive.”
There is, however, a noticeable downturn in the club’s fortunes in the league. Michail Antonio canceling out Sadio Mane’s opener for Liverpool meant Klopp’s squad has now dropped seven potential points in its last five games. The northwest club only dropped six points in the opening 20 fixtures by drawing three games.
Now Manchester City can overhaul Liverpool for top spot by beating Everton on Wednesday, albeit only on goal difference and by having played a game more than Liverpool.
Klopp could tell critics weren’t convinced by the display at the Olympic Stadium or Liverpool’s ability to sustain the challenge to end the team’s 29-year English title drought. “I have seen your faces,” Klopp told a post-match news conference. “You feel a little bit sorry for us, and you don’t have to. We are all fine.”
But a Liverpool lineup devoid of much attacking flair did rely on the referee missing a clear offside _ and having no access to video review _ to score its goal. James Milner was able to receive the ball in an offside position down the right flank from Adam Lallana before crossing to Mane to score on the turn in the 22nd minute.
But the lead was gone inside six minutes when Felipe Anderson sent the ball down the right to Michail Antonio, who struck past static goalkeeper Alisson. “We scared them,” said Mark Noble, captain of 11th-placed West Ham.
Klopp, inevitably, countered the notion.
“They defended well, that’s truth, (but) they didn’t scare us,” Klopp said. “We won away games where we played worse than tonight and nobody spoke about it afterward.”
The result allowed West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini, who lifted the trophy with City in 2014, to help his former team’s title defense under Pep Guardiola.
“If we are going to give a hand to Manchester City, they are my club also,” Pellegrini said. “Maybe that was the reason the manager of Liverpool didn’t like it.”
West Ham did not scare us, says defiant Klopp after dropped points
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp hit back at West Ham United skipper Mark Noble after the midfielder said his side had “scared” the Premier League leaders in a 1-1 draw on Monday. Klopp’s side missed the chance to stretch their lead over Manchester City at the top to five points as Michail Antonio cancelled out Sadio Mane’s 22nd-minute opener at the London Stadium.
Liverpool were off the pace and West Ham, who had conceded 16 goals in their last four league games against Klopp’s side, would not have been flattered had they won. “We scared them, I’m just gutted we didn’t come away with the three points,” Noble, who wasted 12th-placed West Ham’s best chance after the break, said.
Told of Noble’s comments in his post-match news conference, Klopp said: “I wish for all West Ham fans that Mark Noble and his team would scare more teams really, not only us tonight. “I don’t know him very well, I don’t know why he speaks of us like that after a game. They didn’t scare us, they defended well. It was a normal away game and other away games have been worse than tonight. They have quality and I don’t know why they don’t have more results.”
Having drawn at home to Leicester City last week, when they also took the lead, Liverpool have dropped four points in two games which has allowed closest challengers Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur to close the gap. Should City beat Everton on Wednesday they will knock Liverpool off the top for the first time since early December.
Klopp, who said both James Milner and Virgil van Dijk had played despite being ill this week, played down talk of Liverpool feeling the pressure as they try to win their first league title since 1989-90. “We have to fight, it is not about pressure — it’s about enjoying the situation you are in,” Klopp told reporters.
“We have 62 points, have lost one game in the league season so far which is very positive, but I see your faces already you feel a bit sorry for us. “You don’t have to. We are fine. We are fine and everything is good, but of course tonight was a tough game. If you have a day like that, then you get a point at West Ham, for me that’s absolutely fine.”
There was clearly no love lost between Klopp and West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini at the end with some strong words seemingly exchanged about Liverpool’s goal, after Milner appeared to be clearly offside in the build-up. “Klopp is used to offside, he scored against me with Borussia Dortmund against Malaga, with a goal that was seven metres offside. He cannot complain about anything,” said Pellegrini.
