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Football

05th Oct 2020

“What a footballer” – Klopp lauds Jack Grealish after Liverpool thumping

Simon Lloyd

Klopp Grealish

“We lost the plot”

Quite a day, that.

After Manchester United’s capitulation at home to Tottenham on Sunday afternoon, you’d have been forgiven for thinking all the Super Sunday drama had been used up before a ball had been kicked at Villa Park.

Not quite. Aston Villa, a side who survived a close scrape with relegation last season, absolutely battered Premier League champions Liverpool, 7-2. No, really. Greatest League In The World™

Quite understandably, Jurgen Klopp looked a broken man in his post-match interview with Sky Sports. Asked to try and explain how his side had been on the wrong end of such a pummelling, the German claimed his side had “lost the plot” after failing to recover from the concession of the first goal.

“The reaction wasn’t good,” Klopp said. “We lost the plot.”

The German acknowledged that a sloppy pass from goalkeeper Adrian had got his side off to a bad start, but the lack of a reactive spark from going an early goal behind appeared to upset him more. At one stage, and somewhat understandably, he lost track of what Villa goal was scored when [thinking Watkins’ hat-trick goal made it 3-1).

Klopp said Watkins was “undefendable” during the game and remarked, “What a footballer”, when reflecting on Jack Grealish’s performance in the Villa midfield. Grealish scored twice and had three assists while Watkins, signed from Brentford in pre-season, bagged three and chipped in with an assist.

In defeat, Liverpool have lost their 100 per cent start they had made to their title defence. Villa maintain theirs with three wins out of three. The only other team to have won all their games are, of course, Liverpool’s rivals from across Stanley Park, Everton.

The two meet at Goodison Park in the Merseyside derby after the international break.

Klopp remarked that his side would be in for a good test from Everton, who he described as ‘a proper team’ under Carlo Ancelotti.

 

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