Jurgen Klopp calls Everton's football "wild"
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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp called cross-city rival Everton's game "wild" after his team emerged victorious in the 227th Merseyside Derby thanks to an injury-time goal by Sadio Mane. Klopp added that it would take his team a few months to get accustomed to that style of football.
After a
"I can't remember one chance for Everton. The plan of Everton was wild football. They were chasing us everywhere, it is really difficult to play against this," Klopp said after the match.
"We couldn't handle it at first. We will be better at reacting against this in a few months," added Klopp.
The first-half proceedings were dominated by the home side with James McCarthy and Idrissa Gueye closing down Liverpool players before they could show off their brand of football. However, an injury to McCarthy meant that the Irishman had to be replaced by the 35-year-old Gareth Barry who could not keep up that level of pressing and Liverpool gained a foothold in the match.
"We were much better in the second half, we could have scored earlier. If you only win games when you are brilliant you won't win many games, it was a battle and we were ready for it," Klopp explained.
"The best thing you can do on a night like this is
Everton manager Ronald Koeman expressed his disappointment at the result stating that the eight minutes of injury time "killed Everton" and agreed to the fact that Liverpool
"We are really disappointed to concede in extra time. The eight minutes killed us. In the second half we had problems to stop Liverpool," Koeman told SkySports after the game.
Along with McCarthy, goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg too suffered an injury, that appeared to be a dead leg, after his collision with Leighton Baines. While the Everton boss confirmed that the midfielder had suffered a hamstring injury, he hoped that the full extent of Stekelenburg's injury would be revealed tomorrow.
"We have to wait to see about Stekelenburg's injury, we will know more tomorrow, and (midfielder) James McCarthy has a hamstring injury," the Dutchman said.
