Jurgen Klopp cut a despondent figure after his side’s 90th minute defeat to Napoli in their second Champions League group game on Wednesday evening.
After a drear first stanza, Napoli overran the midfield in the second half and should have put the game to bed long before their last ditch winner. Liverpool’s usually prolific front three failed to register a single shot on target all game and were caught dwelling on the ball time-after-time.
Klopp readily admitted his side were deserved losers on a blustery night in Naples which has become a haunted trip for England’s top teams.
"Tonight we were not good enough,” Klopp said in his post-match press conference. “Normally if you are not good enough you lose football games. That was us tonight.
"I'm not 100% sure why (we were poor) but it is clear that we were. The timing for our defensive movements were not good enough, we didn't close the space in the right moment, we didn't react in the right situation. And so they could play through.
"We didn't create a lot of chances. Second half was not good enough. It's always a bad sign when you have to say your goalkeeper was your best player, but it was obvious tonight.
The manager also sought to apportion blame upon himself and deflect attention and overreaction to Liverpool's lacklustre performance.
"A big part of that performance is my fault. I need one night to watch the game again, but it looked not like it should have looked."
Klopp also stated that he’s yet to learn the consequences of the injury suffered by Naby Keita which saw the midfielder stretchered off the pitch after just twenty minutes.
