Football
ESPN staff 7y

Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp called meeting after Swansea loss

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admitted to having a long talk with his squad following the Reds' 3-2 loss to Swansea on Saturday.

The Swans, who sat bottom of the Premier League at kickoff, became the first club since Manchester United last year to beat Liverpool at Anfield, riding a pair of Fernando Llorente goals and another strike from Gylfi Sigurdsson to maximum points.

And the German manager said he discussed a perceived lack of enthusiasm with his team during the reunion.

"We had a very intense period around Christmas and new year," the Liverpool manager told The Guardian. "Fair enough, so did everybody else, but before the Swansea game I actually thought we were back on the right track, with the freshness coming back. But what I spoke most about was enjoying what we do.

"We are Liverpool, a really good football-playing side, and we don't enjoy the job we have to do. It is not as though we are a team at the bottom of the league that has to defend 80 percent or 90 percent of the time.

"In most of our games we are dominant, so we have to enjoy this, even when we don't come through after five minutes."

Also on the meeting's agenda was the Reds' leaky defence, which has allowed six goals over its last three Premier League matches.

"We scored two goals, enough to win the game, but I felt the defending could be improved. I also think the goals we have conceded in 2017 have been a little bit of the same story," Klopp said.

"The influence of throw-ins is a bit too big, for instance, so we spoke about that."

Joel Matip had missed Liverpool's two previous games due to uncertainty over his eligibility after he declined to play for Cameroon at the African Nations Cup.

But Klopp declined to lay blame on the defender's recent absence.

"Sometimes there's a single mistake, but most of the time it is seven or eight players who could have done something differently. That's how we understand it," Klopp said.

"It's not about one player. We really have to do better as a defensive unit. That was one of the things we discussed in our long meeting after the Swansea game, and I think we are all ready for the rest of the season now.

"The feeling around the club is not quite as positive as it was, and it's our job to bring that positivity back."

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