Liverpool have to win imperfectly – Klopp

Liverpool can not rely solely on perfect performances to win games, according to manager Jurgen Klopp.

The German’s side bounced back from twice losing a lead to Crystal Palace in Saturday’s late game, eventually pulling away to a 4-2 victory.

And Klopp was pleased to see his side’s increased resilience this season, which has propelled them to third in the table, level on points with leaders Manchester City and Arsenal.

The Reds’ enigmatic manager knows that if his side are to continue to challenge at the summit of the Premier League standings, they will need to continue their ability to win ugly.

Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

“That’s how football should be,” he said. “You cannot only win the perfect games. You have to win all the other games too.

“We showed a few things which I’m really happy with and a few things I knew before we had to work on.

“At the beginning of the second half, Crystal Palace tried everything – not really clear but made kind of pressure. We didn’t play football. We tried to shout from outside ‘Please play football again’.

“When we did that, we had our moments and scored a wonderful fourth goal. All good.

“So we don’t have to make too big a thing of the good things we did, and we don’t have to make a big thing of the not-so-good things we did.”