Jurgen Klopp moans Fulham’s pitch was too DRY as Liverpool boss takes moaning to new level after shock opening day draw
JURGEN KLOPP took his moaning to another level by claiming the Fulham pitch was ‘dry’ after Liverpool scraped a 2-2 draw.
Mo Salah rescued a point against the Prem new-boys by scoring in the opening game of the season for a SIXTH campaign in a row.
But Reds boss Klopp, who spent the build-up likening fixture congestion to climate change, snapped: “The result is not a defeat — but the performance was a defeat.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Fulham, they did really well.
“But there were moments we weren’t even close to what we should have been. We didn’t find a way into the game.
“We are used to more dominance but we didn’t play quick enough.
“The attitude was not right in the beginning, then we wanted to fight back, but you don’t find it easy any more. The pitch was dry, stuff like this.
“We played a really bad game and got a point. The best thing about the game is the result. It is fine but I don’t think we deserve more than that.
“It’s my responsibility to find out why in the last game we played a really good game and seven days later we played completely upside down. That doesn’t make sense.”
Darwin Nunez, the Kop’s £64million summer signing, followed up his goal as a substitute in the Community Shield win over Manchester City with another off the bench on his Premier League debut.
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But Nunez and Salah’s strikes were the only good news on a day when Thiago Alcantara joined a lengthening injury list with a hamstring problem.
And Klopp admitted Liverpool, who had fellow midfielders Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita out, will have to consider a move in the transfer market.
The German added: “I have said that we didn’t need a midfielder because we have enough — we have eight midfielders.
“We are now punished for something that is not our responsibility. No one could imagine that Curtis gets the thing he gets but he’s a young boy and gets stress reaction.
“Naby is ill and he will not be back definitely next week. Oxlade happened early and Thiago, that’s not good. But a transfer must make sense now.
“We have to think how we react but not panic.”
Fulham head coach Marco Silva felt his side were hard done by after leading twice through Aleksandar Mitrovic.
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He said: “Our first half was almost perfect, the intensity was really good. We know Liverpool have the quality to create space and chances.
“We matched them from the first to the last minute of the match. The boys deserved more from the game.”