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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Nathan Ridley

Jurgen Klopp says only four Liverpool stars played "OK" in "unacceptable" Man City defeat

Jurgen Klopp could only pick out four Liverpool players who did "OK" in their "unacceptable" 4-1 thrashing away to Manchester City.

Despite taking a first-half lead, the Reds crumbled in the second period and suffered yet another defeat away from home in what's been a torrid season. Post-match, Klopp issued a scathing assessment of his team's display and named Alisson Becker, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Cody Gakpo as the only stars who put in respectable performances - not even goalscorer Mohamed Salah.

"About four performances were OK," the Liverpool manager, who's been used to battling City for the Premier League title but is now focussed on merely achieving a top-four finish, bemoaned. "The two midfielders, Hendo and Fab, worked a lot to try to close gaps. Cody, especially in possession, and Ali of course. That is very difficult if you want to get something from here."

Despite that, Klopp believes that his side started positively and Salah's opening goal epitomised their bright beginning to the contest. "The first half was one we've seen a few times when we've played here," the German began to BBC Sport. "City always have more possession, but we had spells. We played calm, composed and caused them problems.

"We scored a wonderful goal, had another big moment but concede. It was unlucky how the ball went through [Andy] Robertson 's legs and they finish it off but coming out after half time and conceding two quick goals broke everything down. The goals, how we conceded is difficult to accept - we didn't put in a challenge for either. That's absolutely not acceptable to be honest."

Klopp even thinks the Reds were "lucky" that City didn't punish them more, with Citizens boss Pep Guardiola labelling the hosts' performance as "one of the best" over his seven years in charge. "City [were] completely in control after that and we were open and they could do whatever they wanted, we were lucky they were not in a greedy mood," Klopp went on to say.

(PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

"That they only scored one more goal is, well, thank you. It could've been different and that's really bad news for us. In the end, we had moments but in general how we lost everything, unacceptable.

"3-1 down is difficult here but there was nothing more there, four-ish players had an OK game and the rest were somewhere I don't know. Three days and we play again against another strong team. Tomorrow is a big day for us because we have to work with what we saw today because we see it more often now."

Have your say! Do you agree with Klopp? Give us your verdict in the comments section.

(Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

Gakpo had his say on the bruising loss, adding: "It speaks for itself that we are frustrated. We know what we can do and when we don't do it and lose the game, everybody is frustrated.

"I think we conceded really quick in the second half, two quick goals and it is difficult to bounce back from that. We have to analyse that and see how we can improve it. City is a strong side but I think we also showed in moments that we are also really strong side but we have to be consistent."

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