Klopp explains importance of Minamino getting first Liverpool goal

Jurgen Klopp

Jurgen Klopp tried to focus on the positives after Liverpool lost the Community Shield for the second year in a row.

After losing on penalties to Manchester City in last year’s edition, they fell to the same fate against Arsenal this time around.

Rhian Brewster was the only player to miss his spot kick after Liverpool had drawn 1-1 with Arsenal in normal time.

And Klopp thinks Liverpool could have got more goals to avoid taking the game to penalties, but admitted Arsenal’s shape caused them problems.

“For these type of games you need the final punch,” he told BT Sport.

“We created enough, had the ball quite a lot, but had to be careful of their counter-attack.

“We deserved the equaliser and could have scored more but we didn’t do that.

“When you play against a formation like this then you need to be really fresh in the final third and you need to force it, create angles.

“The rhythm for that fell a little bit. Today it was not enough.”

‘We respect the competition’

 

Klopp continued: “A penalty shoot-out is always a little bit of a lottery and we were unlucky there, so congratulations to Arsenal, that is how it is. We respect the competition.”

One positive for Liverpool was that Takumi Minamino scored his first goal for the club. And Klopp thinks that factor will be an important step forward for the team, despite the end result.

“It’s very important and helps us a lot. A lot of things were good.”

READ MORE: Mikel Arteta says that winning the Community Shield with Arsenal can give them belief for the season ahead.