After Liverpool beat Brentford 1-0, Jurgen Klopp praised Mo Salah, calling him “an all-time great”. Here are five key points from the manager’s post-match press conference:
1. Salah is “an all-time great”: Klopp heaped praise on his forward after Salah netted his 100th goal at Anfield, scoring for a ninth consecutive home game in the process. Klopp said: “After his career he will be seen as an all time great, we all know. Now he is in his career, some people may not appreciate him, but we do! In the moment, he deserves all the praise and he will get even more praise after his career.”
2. Klopp was asked about the boos for the national anthem: The manager said: “We have freedom of speech, freedom of opinion. It was clear this would happen, it’s fine it happened. People showed they are not always happy, the people of Liverpool, the city or the club.” He added: “First and foremost, today is a big day for England. I respect that a lot, everyone who wants to be happy, who wants to celebrate it.”
3. It was “the best defensive set-piece session” that Klopp has ever seen: Liverpool were made to work hard for this one and managed to hold on against Brentford’s set pieces. Klopp said: “The focus and concentration we showed, against the best set-piece team I ever seen. Everyone we had in the line of eight stepped up and were fully aware of what was needed. That was great.”
4. The Reds must now wait nine days until their next match: Klopp was thankful for the break, having played three midweeks in a row. He said: “If we played Tuesday again we would be completely knackered. You could see today one team [Brentford] had a full week.”
5. Liverpool showed “good signs” for next season: Since drawing 2-2 with Arsenal at the start of April, Liverpool have begun to grow into an altered system and things are looking rosier ahead of next season. Klopp suggested there were positives to take from the win over Brentford and said: “Today will not be a game people tell their grandchildren about, but the fight, focus, concentration was exceptional. There were a lot of good signs for how we could look in the future.”