Jurgen Klopp will not let the frustrating draw with West Brom distort his impression of the Liverpool team he still regards as a top group .
The champions have not had it all their own way this season, but they are top of the Premier League again as others scrabble to stay in touch.
After dominating the first half at Anfield against West Brom on Sunday, Liverpool s levels dipped and they had to settle for a 1-1 draw with their lowly visitors.
Klopp s side have not lost in the English top flight since the freakish 7-2 loss to Aston Villa on October 4, however, and they head to Newcastle United on Wednesday looking to end the year on a high note.
Match highlights from Sunday s Anfield stalemate. |
— Liverpool FC (@LFC)
In their game prior to the West Brom clash, Liverpool had torched Crystal Palace 7-0 at Selhurst Park.
I want to win more than anything else, Klopp said. But I had to learn so early in life it doesn t happen all the time. That s completely fine.
I like winning football games, especially when you deserve to win. To deserve to win [against West Brom] I thought we should have done more things. We ran a lot, we fought a lot, that s all okay but to do more of the right stuff. That s what I told the boys already, I m not angry with them, that can happen.
The boys are a top group. They were a top group after winning 7-0, they re a top group after drawing with West Brom, so that doesn t change.
Maybe the perspective from outside changed, I can imagine that s immediately like this. I m not a young manager anymore; I can judge these things in the right way.
We re not happy about [the West Brom outcome], it s the opposite, but now it s over we cannot change that anymore, we can just make sure in the exact situation the same doesn t happen again.
Klopp spoke admiringly of Newcastle striker Callum Wilson and said Steve Bruce s side have a couple of really good players , predicting a tough challenge on Tyneside.
Should Liverpool stumble again, the likes of Manchester United, Everton, Leicester City and Tottenham will take heart, but the Reds have a strong recent record against Wednesday s opponents, having won their last five Premier League battles.
6 Liverpool have failed to win six of their 15 Premier League games this season (W9 D5 L1), as many as they did in the entirety of last season in the league (W32 D3 L3). Mortal.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Liverpool have never won six consecutive games against Newcastle in the top flight, and they may note the Magpies have developed a habit of raising their level for home games against reigning champions.
Newcastle have taken eight points (W2 D2) from their last four home games against teams in possession of the Premier League trophy, last losing at St James Park to such a team when they went down 2-0 to Manchester City in August 2014.
Conversely, Liverpool can point to having won their final league game in each of the last six calendar years.
Klopp was waiting to see whether Thiago Alcantara might be pushing to return to the matchday squad for the trip to Tyneside, having been absent since suffering a knee injury in the 2-2 draw against Everton in mid-October.
On Friday he trained the full session, but the session was a reduced session, Klopp said of the former Bayern Munich midfielder. He has to be part of team training.
It s not about doing one day of training with the team and then you can play Premier League football again. So it looks quite promising at the moment but I can t say more.
