The Liverpool manager emphasized not only his own team’s flaws, but also those of the Brentford officials.

Jurgen Klopp felt Brentford’s set-piece tactics were not referred stringently enough

Jurgen Klopp has claimed that trying to speak to the match officials was like talking to “my microwave” as Liverpool’s Champions League hopes suffered a set-back after a deserved 3-1 loss away to Brentford.

The Liverpool manager was unhappy with Brentford’s tactics at set-pieces and when asked whether he had complained about them, said: “Yeah, but actually that’s exactly the same as I would talk to my microwave, you get no response, really. It’s just, it’s always the same really.”

Klopp told Bein Sports: “Before the season they gave us advice that the players have to be careful at set-pieces because the refs will have an eye on it. In these games pretty much everything is allowed. It’s always on the edge and they are using it.”

Despite Klopp’s complaints, former player Jamie Carragher dismissed Liverpool first-half performance as “shambolic” and described them as an “ageing team”.

The result left Liverpool in sixth place in the Premier League, four points behind fourth place Manchester United – having played a game more – with league leaders Arsenal having the chance to go 18 points clear of them should they beat Newcastle United at home on Tuesday evening.

‘That was shambolic’

Post-match Carragher, the Sky Sports pundit and Telegraph columnist, focussed much of his criticism on the weakness of Liverpool’s ageing midfield.

“It’s like they are trying to play the Jurgen Klopp way without Jurgen Klopp players, that’s the best way I can describe it,” the former defender said. “They haven’t got the players in midfield to stop players getting their heads up.

“When you watch Liverpool at their best you couldn’t get half a second on the ball, someone would be on top of you… but now Liverpool are like a normal team in terms of pressing but still play with that high line and balls go in behind them and it causes them a massive problem.”

At half-time, with Liverpool fortunate to be only two goals behind, Carragher was even more damning and concluded: “They’ve given themselves so much to do so often. Liverpool have had problems all season against teams that have intensity and aggression. It looks like an ageing team coming to an end, and that was shambolic.”

Carragher called Liverpool ‘shambolic’ and ‘ageing’ after their loss to Brentford CREDIT: PA

Klopp was defiant, believing Liverpool had the chances and should have scored twice before they conceded. He also criticised referee Stuart Attwell believing the official should have intervened with Brentford’s tactics at set-pieces as they “create chaos”.

“They [Brentford] are very dangerous with corners, they put everything in, the ref doesn’t help you in these moments, they [Brentford] stretch the rules, holding, blocking, they do it well… they go to the limit with body contact,” Klopp claimed.

‘Brentford got the game they wanted’

He also argued that Brentford’s third goal, which confirmed the result late on, should have been ruled out for a “clear foul” on Ibrahima Konate. “It was a full-throttle sprint from two players and when you get a push [from Bryan Mbeumo] you go down,” he said.

Klopp added: “We are not happy now with the performance but we fought back but, as I said, it was much more the game they wanted than we wanted.”

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank was dismissive of Klopp’s complaints as he hailed another eye-catching result from his side who are now up to seventh in the table.

“I guess we have some very, very good refs. There are four on the pitch and then we have a Var room and it has never been more difficult to score,” Frank said.

“I hope the fans dream big and I hope the players do as well… It’s right up there among the very best [results] so beating them is a big satisfaction. But going to the Etihad and beating City [before the World Cup] was the biggest one.”

Klopp also praised Brentford’s performance but went on: “We can change our position by only winning football games. We cannot take anything from it. We have to win games. We have a lot of players not available at the moment.”

Virgil Van Dijk added to that as he went off as a precaution at half-time after feeling “a little the muscle” in his right leg with Jordan Henderson absent having suffered from a concussion.

source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/