LONDON, United Kingdom, Jan 27 – Jurgen Klopp has urged Liverpool to learn the lessons of their Brighton “horror show” as they return to the south-coast in the FA Cup fourth round.
Klopp branded Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton earlier this month as the worst performance of his managerial career.
The FA Cup holders have a quick chance to make amends for that listless display when they head back to the Amex Stadium on Sunday.
Liverpool lacked passion and purpose during the Brighton debacle, a recurring theme during a troubled campaign that sees them languishing in ninth place in the Premier League.
But Klopp believes his players understand what went wrong and will fix the issues in their latest confrontation with Roberto De Zerbi’s team.
“Of course we had intense talks after the Brighton game. We had to change immediately and we did. A couple of days later we played Wolves and we looked a different team,” Klopp told reporters on Friday.
“But I will not do a meeting where I show all bad situations from Brighton, it would be a proper horror show and we saw that already. We played it and saw it after.
“It is about general change and improvement of different things. We can lose a game and we did that and if you don’t learn from it, it is just a defeat.
“If you learn from it, it is important as well and we tend to do things like that.”
Klopp has tried to revitalise his lethargic midfield since the Brighton defeat.
Stefan Bajcetic, Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara featured for the FA third round replay win at Wolves and the goalless Premier League draw against Chelsea.
Intriguingly, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, both criticised for their recent performances, were on the bench for those matches.
“We had injuries after Brighton or little niggles so it was clear we had to change anyway and then I liked the rhythm and the mix of offensive things and defensive readiness,” Klopp said.
“It was not the three alone because the three alone can do nothing, but the front line did really good as well, and that is really important to us.
“With Brighton a lot of things are clear and you have to respect that and defend that. If you don’t do that then you are screwed.
“The midfield three it just worked well for these games, we will see who will start on Sunday.”
