Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 5y

Klopp blames wind after Liverpool see title momentum swing Man City's way

Jurgen Klopp blamed the wind after Liverpool blew the chance to go top of the table following a Merseyside derby stalemate against Everton. 

Liverpool were held to a goalless draw at the home of their local rivals that now sees Klopp's side sit one point behind Manchester City in the Premier League table.

Mohamed Salah and Fabinho wasted good chances at Goodison Park as the Reds lost control of the title race with nine matches remaining.

- Liverpool ratings: Salah 4/10 as Reds slip up against rivals 

"It's OK. A very difficult game for different reasons, a wild opponent," Klopp told Sky Sports postmatch. "I know people don't like it when I say that, but the wind came from all directions and you saw that in a lot situations that it didn't help any football play, especially when the ball was in the air and that was a lot.

"We had -- in a game that was really difficult to control because of the two things I said -- I think three or four really big chances. I'm not sure if they count as shots on target -- Mo it was really big, Fabinho really big.

"It's a 0-0 in a derby, we kept our unbeaten run against Everton. But of course it's not exactly what we wanted, but it's something [that] is easy to accept because, how I said, difficult game."

Salah, Liverpool's top goalscorer this season, has not scored in his last four matches and squandered opportunities in either half against Everton.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford denied the Egypt international in a one-on-one situation after 28 minutes before a poor touch allowed for Michael Keane to make a last-ditch, recovery challenge in the second half.

"When you see the situation, he's doing everything right [until] the last moment," Klopp said. "We had our moments. There's no reason for taking it or not taking it.

"There's all different things. It's really the pitch sometimes. The boys are able to score situations like this, but it's an inch on the boot.

"On another day, he scores two or three and today not. That's all that happened. Absolutely stay cool and play football, fight for everything and everything will be fine in the end. That's how it is.

"There's nothing to be concerned about. We have to take the situation like it is. Four days ago we spoke about the free-flowing Liverpool side. It's all good.

"We need to constantly show stability -- that's what we did again -- and fight for the result. Nothing happened really, apart from that we have one point more and that's still positive."

Klopp took off striker Sadio Mane for midfielder Adam Lallana in the 84th minute and when asked if the series of draws indicated he should take more risks, the German snapped.

"I'm really disappointed about your question. It's football -- we don't play Playstation," he said.

"Do you think we didn't take enough risks today? Was there any draw where we didn't try to win? Bring on an extra attacker and football changes? It is not like that, come on.

"We are offensive enough, football doesn't work like that. There are nine games to go and we don't lose our nerves, not like you, obviously."

When the reporter suggested he might have brought on another attacker, Klopp said it was not the right moment to take a cavalier approach.

"You cannot start with four or five strikers in a striker way with nothing else to do than to try to score," he added.

"We are an offensive team and that's absolutely okay. We take a risk, no doubt about it, but it is not like that. It's not the moment where we say, 'Come on now, throw everything in that direction.'

"You cannot play in the Premier League like that. We play next week against Burnley and if we play only offensive, they kill us on the counter-attack, 100 percent.

"We take all the risks, but you cannot take more than 100 percent risk. It's not about going nuts."

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