Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool have lost ‘control’ after second straight league defeat, as they ‘leave everything open’ to Leeds

Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool ‘cannot control’ matches at the moment after they left ‘everything open’ in the shock 2-1 defeat to Leeds.

Liverpool had a chance inside one minute when there was a mix up between Illan Meslier and Liam Cooper. Mo Salah attempted to capitalise but saw his effort cleared away from goal.

Liverpool did the same a few minutes later and got punished. Joe Gomez won the ball from Brenden Aaronson but didn’t look when playing his back pass. Alisson was caught out and this allowed Rodrigo to finish into an open net.

Salah saved Gomez’s blushes by equalising for Liverpool in the 14th minute. Andy Robertson recycled a Liverpool chance and Salah was on hand to volley in at the back post.

Darwin Nunez then had a great opportunity squandered by Meslier, which became a theme of the night, before Robertson saw a deflected cross go just wide of the post.

An even better Nunez chance came in the 67th minute. Salah stole from Cooper before playing the summer signing in, but Meslier rushed off his line to deny Nunez.

Roberto Firmino had two efforts saved by Meslier in the final 10 minutes. And just before the game entered stoppage time, Crysencio Summerville stepped up to hand Leeds the winner.

Whites debutant Wilfried Gnonto sent the ball into the box and Bamford gave it to Summerville. He got past two defenders before rolling the ball into the net with the outside of his right boot.

Liverpool had no response and Leeds handed Klopp’s side their fourth Premier League defeat of the season, and their second in a row following the 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest last weekend.

Jurgen Klopp left frustrated by ‘setback’

During a post-match interview with Sky Sports (via BBC Sport), Klopp admitted Liverpool ‘cannot control’ games currently.

“It was a setback, absolutely,” he said. “I thought we had a really good start then conceded a freakish goal.

“We scored the equaliser but for some reason it didn’t give us the security back. We struggled to control the game and gave too many balls away.

“The boys tried, we had good possession and had big chances but, in the end, if it is 1-1 and you defend the situation around the second goal like this, you leave everything open.

“In the end, it was two versus one in the box and they can finish off the situation. The problem is we cannot control this type of game at the moment.”

When asked how he can fix Liverpool’s problems, Klopp continued: “Maybe some players are overplayed, Harvey [Elliott] has been exceptional for us this season. He had a good start but couldn’t keep it going.

“Thiago has been ill, up front the same [players] play all the time. They are the three strikers we have left. We have to fight and that is what we must do.”

Manager discusses individual errors

Klopp was then asked if it is individual errors which is costing them in matches. “A team performance is always made up of individual performances,” he replied. “One leads to the other.

“You can watch this game completely, you cannot defend like we did for the second goal but we did, that’s why we lost. Otherwise, it would have been a point and we go from there. Now we have nothing and it feels completely different.”

The German was asked how he and his team recover from this situation. “We have to bring our quality on to the pitch and we fight against it,” he responded. “We had problems from the first day, injury wise. Players have had to play from the first day.

“It’s our situation and it means we have to help ourselves, and that is what we will do.”

Meanwhile, a pundit thinks Tottenham could cause Liverpool serious problems in the pursuit of a Bundesliga ace.