Jurgen Klopp praised the ‘outstanding’ atmosphere at Anfield as Liverpool drew 1-1 with Arsenal on Saturday evening.
The Premier League’s top two played out a gripping game on Merseyside, with Mohamed Salah’s fierce strike cancelling out an early Arsenal opener from Gabriel Magalhães. The result leaves the two teams separated by a point in the table, with Arsenal the league leaders at Christmas.
Klopp this week called on the Liverpool fans to be vocal in their backing of his side, having been unimpressed with recent atmospheres at the ground. Then German believes he received the right response to those comments, as two ‘top teams’ went head-to-head.
“I saw top teams, that’s what I saw,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference. “What does that say about City, Tottenham, Aston Villa? Nothing. They are top teams as well, and others as well who maybe have a little bit less points but are there as well.
“I just saw two really good football teams, a really good game, super-intense. Top, top, top moments for us; could have won, maybe should have won. In all the interviews I had so far, I forgot completely Trent’s [shot off the] crossbar. That’s why I said, ‘I’m not sure, they could have [won]’ but with that chance we should have won the game. I only realised that when I had the radio interview.
“Besides that, they had the better start, we came super back in the game. Anfield was outstanding tonight, I think everybody felt it. It was brutal. It was really nice to see what we can do all together.
“The reaction to the 1-0 was fantastic. We were super-intense, nearly too intense; we tried massively to influence from outside that we have to calm down in moments, that we have to mix it up a little bit better. That’s what we did, created really good moments with that.
“Scored a wonderful goal; maybe the best pass I saw in my life. I saw a few.
“Second half, we started extremely well. I’m not sure if it’s directly from the first second but we had them where we wanted to have them, our high press was absolutely exceptional, they lost it there a little bit. And we should have created better chances with the high ball wins we had there, that’s definitely something we should improve if we have similar situations again.
“Then we had that massive chance from Trent, and then we were not that much in control anymore and that’s obviously the moment when they are directly back again in the game.
“They are really good and really physically strong, I have to say, in all positions, wow. It’s a good football team. Thank God, we are as well, that’s why it’s 1-1.”
