Jurgen Klopp admits that he could not explain his side’s performance in their 2-2 draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Liverpool dominated the initial exchanges at the Stadium of Light as Vito Mannone made two good saves in the first few minutes to stave off a disastrous start for Sunderland at home. Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was also forced in to making a nice save from a Jack Rodwell shot in the first 15 minutes of the game as both sides created problems for each other’s defence.
However, the Reds took the lead when Daniel Sturridge headed in Dejan Lovren’s mishit shot and opened the scoring. However, their joy didn’t last long and Sunderland were awarded a penalty after Ragnar Klavan bundled over Didier N’Dong; Jermain Defoe calmly converted the spot-kick to bring the home side back into the contest.
And the veteran striker missed a glorious chance to give Sunderland the lead when he was through on goal from an Adnan Januzaj pass, but was denied by a smart save from Mignolet, with Fabio Borini shooting wide from the rebound.
Both sides kept creating little openings, but a goal didn’t arrive as Sunderland and Liverpool went into the break on level terms.
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Mannone was in good form in the second half and prevented Liverpool from taking the lead when he made a good save diving low to deny Roberto Firmino’s shot from outside the penalty area at the hour mark.
However, the away side eventually got their noses in front when Sadio Mane turned in from a few yards out after N’Dong inadvertently flicked the ball towards his goal from a corner in the 72nd minute.
However, the match took another turn when Sunderland were awarded another penalty when Seb Larsson’s free-kick hit Mane’s arm and Defoe again showed a calm head to equalise for the Black Cats from the spot with just six minutes left on the clock.
Mannone made another very good save from an Adam Lallana shot in stoppage time and Sunderland managed to hold on to a point at the Stadium of Light as Liverpool dropped two points.
Klopp has indicated that his side could not have played any better football against Sunderland after just playing on Saturday and admits that he cannot explain the kind of football they played at the Stadium of Light.
The Liverpool manager was quoted as saying by the BBC: “I am not able to explain it because I don’t know exactly what I saw, my team were fighting but I wasn’t sure if they could do it.
“We can play better football but I’m not sure if you can play better with that break.
"I don’t know how it feels when you have to do the things you have to do today.
“I told the players if nobody wanted to play I would never speak about and not tell anyone, but nobody came and that was a good thing.
"About the football we played, I actually have no idea how to speak about it.”
Liverpool lost more ground to league leaders Chelsea, who won on Saturday and will play Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, after a three-day gap.
