The injury to Harvey Elliott dominated post-match discussion for Jurgen Klopp, but the manager was full of praise for a “really good game” from Liverpool in their 3-0 win at Leeds.
Here are four key things the boss told the media and supporters in his press conference:
1. All we can do is wait on Elliott scans
The 18-year-old went straight to hospital after being stretchered off the field at Elland Road, where Klopp went on to say it was a dislocation of his ankle.
A horror injury but one that means all Liverpool can do is wait and see what the damage is.
“Harvey Elliott is in hospital, a bad ankle injury for sure. It looked like it was dislocated, the medical department put it back. Massive pain, shock for him, for us and we don’t know more.
“We have to wait for further examinations, scans.”
It’ll certainly be months on the sidelines but all our thoughts are with Harvey.
2. A “really good game” from his boys
There was a shadow over the game following the injury, but it was still an impressive display from Liverpool as they gave Leeds little encouragement all the while punishing their man-marking system.
The win keeps the Reds joint-top alongside Chelsea and Man United on 10 points, but the manager is only focusing on the now after once again being drawn back to the title triumph.
“I’m not interested in the form we were in when we won the title, I’m interested in the best possible shape we can have now,” Klopp said.
“We played a really good game today!”
3. Lots of shots but Klopp wants clear cut chances
“We should have had more clear cut chances, we had a lot of shots but we should have had more clear cut chances.”
Liverpool were not shy in the final third, 30 shots on goal say as much in comparison to Leeds‘ nine — Mane himself was responsible for 10 with one goal to his name.
But a lot of goals went begging and the conversion rate is certainly a key area for improvement and the next chance to do just that is against AC Milan on Wednesday.
4. Elliott challenge not due to refs letting the game flow
And, finally, Klopp was firm in his stance that he wanted his view on challenges and referees now letting the game ‘flow’ to be separate from the tackle on Elliott.
“I don’t think the situation today had anything to do with it,” Klopp explained after his previous comments on player welfare after the Burnley game.
He went on to say on the changes: “The problem with letting the game flow is that players naturally now try to use that, it’s a normal thing. Players don’t want to injure each other they just want to go in hard, proper challenges.
“The main problem last season was the game didn’t flow enough, then I saw a completely different season!”
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