Liverpool is feeling itself after a Merseyside derby win that was a lot more decisive than the 2-0 final score line.
The Anfield set was dominant over 90 minutes, although it got the rub of VAR green on a Sadio Mane hands-to-the-face foul and a Joel Matip shove to the back of Anthony Gordon in the box.
Klopp thought it was a dive anyway.
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“From my point of view it was again clear no penalty.” Klopp said. “For as good as the boy is, and he’s really good, he’s lucky not to get a second yellow.”
But the Reds had almost 90 percent of the ball and limited Everton to just 32 completed first-half passes, controlling their foes and moving back within a point of Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Klopp, Robertson admit Liverpool drawn into scrap
Manager Jurgen Klopp said the Reds had to get to the locker room in order to remove itself from derby emotion after almost all 22 players came together around referee Stuart Atwell just before halftime.
“Get away from these kinds of things,” Klopp said. “Aggression, yes. Emotion, yes. But the right ones. …Thank God the game has two halves. We just didn’t play particularly well in the first half. They made it uncomfortable with the formation but we didn’t get behind the last line or get enough movement. Second half much more direct, caused them much more problems. We stayed patient but developed a sort of greed as well and scored goals.”
Both Klopp and goal scorer Andrew Robertson knew the challenge in front of them heading into the game. Both say it took time for the Reds to get into the flow.
“It was so hard,” Robertson said. “First half we weren’t our best. We played their game instead of our own. Look I’ve been in a relegation battle I know what it’s like and we had to play our own game. Patience was key. The end of the game they knew they were in the bottom three.”
Klopp knew Everton was defend deep and thus so did the Reds. They just let themselves get drawn into the extracurriculars.
“We expected it but we didn’t react extremely well,” Klopp said. “Each ball Pickford had felt like it took five minutes so we could not gain a rhythm which is important if you want to break down a low block. But again I’m really happy because the amount of games the boys have won in the past few months is insane.”
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