Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he has no explanation for his side’s 3-0 defeat at Wolves on Saturday, adding he was “angry” and “disappointed.”
Relegation-threatened Wolves humiliated the Merseyside club at Molineux with Craig Dawson, Ruben Neves scoring after a Joel Matip own goal.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
The result means that Liverpool have only secured one win in seven games in all competitions since the turn of the year.
“Obviously it was a horrible start. Two goals which cannot happen like that,” Klopp told Premier League Productions after the game. “But it happened and we were 2-0 down because of our own fault. We should have defended better. We were passive in that period. I cannot explain it. There is no excuse for it.
“You’re 2-0 down, the crowd is there but it opens up and we get some control. Then for about 45 minutes we play a good away game without scoring. That sums it up pretty much. “Concentration for the first 15 minutes. Again, I cannot explain. But these 15 minutes cannot be allowed. It needs to change.
“That’s the thing. I stand here again and for the first 15 minutes I have no explanation, I’m sorry. In the end we lost 3-0 because the goal in the second half was perhaps the first time they crossed the halfway line. But it’s right because when you start like this you don’t deserve anything in a Premier League game.
“We have to change it immediately in the next game. Everton won today and they are in a good moment so we have to prove a point again. For the moment, I’m so disappointed and angry about the first 15 minutes, I can’t find the words for it. Then we have chances we should score. It could have been 2-1 and that would have changed everything I’m sure. Wolves deserve the three points.
“Yes, definitely. That’s clear. We cannot go through that season that nobody did before but how long do we want to suffer? It is one explanation in general yes, but not for the first 15 minutes here today. What we make of it in this moment is absolutely not OK.”
After coming close to a historic Quadruple last season, where they won two domestic cups and were runners-up in both the Champions League and Premier League, Klopp’s injury-hit side have struggled this term.
– Matip and Gomez 4/10 in embarrassing defeat to Wolves
The result was the first time in a decade that Liverpool have lost three consecutive Premier League away games.
They have conceded more goals in the Premier League this season — 28 in 21 games — than they did in the whole of last season and remain 21 points behind Arsenal at the top.
“Same as the other games, we have no consistency at all through the 90 minutes, focused and doing what we have to do on the pitch fighting,” Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson said after the game.
“First 15 minutes we started the game not in a good way and we got punished for that. Conceding two goals, we are not in a good situation. They are confident, we tried, did a good second half but conceded again. Completely frustrated.
“Looks like in the game we went two steps behind then we make one step forward, we need to do more steps because of the results. Step forward was the second half performance, two completely different sides first and second half. We have to take that for the next game and using the chances we have and stop conceding the silly goals.”
Information from Reuters was included in this report.