EPL

'The best thing about the game was the result' – Klopp frustrated with below-par Liverpool display

By Sports Desk August 06, 2022

Jurgen Klopp conceded Liverpool must be happy with a point after "a really bad game" against Fulham.

The Reds, who looked sharp in defeating Manchester City 3-1 in last week's Community Shield, were unable to hit their best form on Saturday as they opened their Premier League campaign with a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage.

Aleksandar Mitrovic scored Fulham's opener in the first half, but Liverpool hit back through substitute Darwin Nunez's first Premier League goal.

Mitrovic then became the first player to score twice for a promoted team on the opening day of a Premier League season since Steve Mounie for Huddersfield Town in 2017 when he netted from the penalty spot after drawing a foul from Virgil van Dijk.

Yet Liverpool had the resolve to restore parity for a second time, Nunez involved again when he perhaps inadvertently nudged down to Mohamed Salah, who swept home his eighth goal on the opening day of a Premier League campaign, the joint-highest total along with Alan Shearer, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney.

Liverpool have now gained 115 points from losing positions under Klopp in the Premier League, the most of any side since the German took over in October 2015, but he was far from pleased with what he saw in west London.

Klopp told BT Sport: "The best thing about the game is the result, that we got a point from a really bad game for my side. Now the question is how can that happen.

"The energy was not right in the beginning, then we wanted to fight back but it is not easy. The pitch was dry, we played really into their hands most of the time. When we found a bit of direction and ended up in front of their goal, we had the bigger chances.

"The result is fine, I don't think we deserved more than that, the performance… massively improvable.

"We cannot always hug the boys. We do that usually when they deserve it. When you start a game in a specific way that was opposite to how we wanted to start, really completely opposite, we didn't find direction. Everyone was under pressure, we couldn't break the lines, which was a clear message. We never had momentum.

"We could have won the game, we had the bigger chances, but that would probably have been a bit too much today."

Liverpool had some complaints about Fulham's opener, with Jordan Henderson claiming he had been fouled by Joao Palhinha in the build-up, though VAR did not intervene.

"It doesn't have to be deliberate, I think it's that they don't go back that far, that's the thing," said Klopp when asked about the incident.

"This result was not about the referee, but we discussed the situation in a Premier League meeting that the refs don't want to go that far back. I'm not sure how far back it was. If it was a foul, it would have been nice, but he saw it differently."

While Nunez became just the third player in Premier League history to both score and assist off the bench on his debut in the competition, Mitrovic has now scored 45 goals in English league football since the start of last season, 16 more than any other player.

Mitrovic managed only three top-flight goals in the 2020-21 season, but Fulham boss Marco Silva was thrilled with the striker's performance.

"Mitro is not just goals, if someone thinks that, forget [it]," Silva said on BT Sport. "The job he did this afternoon, for the team, his pressure, helping the midfielders, the back line… after that, if you deliver for him, he'll score.

"I have to congratulate him, the work he did without the ball he did was fantastic. He knows that, I demand that from him."

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    It looked like Vitaly Janelt's 24th-minute strike against the run of play was going to wrap up all three points for Brentford, but Harry Wilson proved the Cottagers' hero off the bench, scoring twice in stoppage time to snatch the three points.

    Fulham had dominated from the first whistle and had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, though they struggled to find a way past their opponents' staunch defence until the 92nd minute.

    Wilson became just the sixth player to score an equalising and match-winning goal from the 90th minute onwards in the Premier League, while his second goal was Fulham's latest-ever Premier League winner at 96:46.

    Silva was delighted with how his team pushed until the final seconds to ensure they came away with a win.

    "It was definitely a deserved win. We started on the front foot and dominated all the game. In the first 20 minutes, we had two clear chances to score," Silva told BBC Sport.

    "After they scored, we didn't lose the confidence and the trust in ourselves, we kept pushing them back, and we created enough to not be losing at half-time.

    "I told the players this is football, it can happen, but we have to keep pushing, working hard and playing our way.

    "It was late, it should've been much before, but that's football."

     

    Brentford, meanwhile, have now dropped a league-high 14 points from winning positions in the Premier League as they suffered a fifth consecutive away defeat in the competition.

    In fact, they are the first side in the competition's history to score the first goal in four consecutive away games and lose all four.

    They had defended resolutely until their late lapse in concentration, and even had a chance to win it, only for Bernd Leno's impressive save to keep out Fabio Carvalho in the 95th minute.

    Thomas Frank, though, admitted he was not yet ready to take the positives from the performance after the disappointment of their late defeat.

    "It was tough. It is emotionally very tough right now," Frank told Sky Sports.

    "When you are leading in the 92nd minute, and you lose, it is tough. I don't think we hit our highest level. I think on the day Fulham were better.

    "There was a lot of good defending and effort, and I thought that would have given us the win. We could have won it with the chance for Fabio Carvalho and then we lost.

    "When we look at the game back, and we are more cool-headed, we will probably be very happy with the defensive standard. I thought there were unbelievable blocks, and recovery runs and all that we did well. On the ball, we didn't do enough."

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    Alonso played 210 times across all competitions for Liverpool between 2004 and 2009, scoring 18 goals and providing 20 assists. 

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    Fulham will feel it was a win they earned from a match they dominated from the off, with the Bees having taken the lead against the run of play through Vitaly Janelt's stunning 24th-minute strike.

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    Fulham will feel they deserved to come away from that match with three points, having had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, in an incredibly dominant display.

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