Juergen Klopp accepted responsibility for Liverpool’s stunning FA Cup fourth-round exit as Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers earned a shock 2-1 win at Anfield.
Klopp’s lineup featured three teenagers and rightback Connor Randall starting his first game of the season, a selection which resulted in a third consecutive home defeat in the space of eight days.
A home loss to Swansea City all but ended Liverpool’s hopes of catching English Premier League leaders Chelsea, while Southampton won at Anfield in an EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday last week.
Photo: Reuters
Liverpool must now face Chelsea in the Premier League tomorrow, fixture congestion which goes some way to explaining why Klopp chose such a weakened lineup, but the Reds boss was criticized by pundits, including England legend Gary Lineker and Liverpool great Mark Lawrenson, for his team selection and he accepted the blame.
“I’m responsible, I feel responsible for this performance,” Klopp said. “I thought we could do better and obviously we couldn’t. I have to think about this, learn about situations, players and all games. It was an important game for us and we couldn’t deliver.”
“I was asked if it is the low point of my Liverpool time until now and I don’t know if it is, but if it is, it’s a perfect point to turn around because it is not possible to go lower. It is absolutely right that it feels bad,” he said. “I don’t feel that the players let me down. I am responsible for the lineup. I saw them training and I thought that is the lineup. I am responsible for the bad things. We could have played better. Each boy could have played better. For each single performance there is an explanation. I am never too harsh in criticism and you should not be too emotional.”
Lineker was particularly damning of Klopp’s approach to the FA Cup, a competition Liverpool have won seven times.
“Don’t get Klopp playing his reserves with no European football,” Lineker said on Twitter. “Shows a lack of knowledge of the depth in English football and respect.”
Liverpool’s hopes of winning silverware this season are in tatters, but Klopp refused to be critical of any of his youngsters, or the handful of senior players who lined up alongside them.
“I cannot explain every single thing of today. I don’t look for excuses. Whatever you write, whatever you say, is absolutely OK,” he said.
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