Jurgen Klopp has insisted he was not being literal when he urged fans to “give their tickets to somebody else” as he criticised the Anfield atmosphere in the recent victory over West Ham United.
The Reds were overwhelmingly dominant against West Ham and ran out deserved 5-1 winners, but Klopp argued supporters should have done more to support the players during the game and called out those in attendance.
“I don’t order atmospheres or whatever. We had two home games in a row and in these home games we had 62 shots,” the boss told Friday’s press conference. “That’s pretty special, I would say. That’s what football is all about.
“Imagine if we would have scored all of them, that’s ridiculous, that’ll never happen, so you will have these moments where you create a chance and you miss.
“I’m pretty sure not everybody is thinking, ‘Oh my God, Klopp is right’. It’s not about that, it’s my feeling directly after a game. It was exactly like that. We missed a chance and I turned around and people were sitting flat and I thought, ‘What actually do you want?’.
“Creating a chance is the closest you can get to scoring a goal. The difference for me is that, when you have a chance and you miss it, it’s [he sighs], but after that, the stadium goes bonkers and we go for the next chance, but that was different.”
Klopp went on to stress his love for Liverpool fans and the atmosphere they usually created and argued his comments were more like feedback ahead of Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash with Arsenal.
“It’s not criticism. I have enjoyed 99.7% of each second in that stadium,” he said. “I love it to bits, the atmosphere, these people…
“I said, ‘Give the ticket to somebody else’ and people explained to me it’s not possible, only to a family member. I didn’t think everybody would take me word for word but after all these years, I should be used to that.
“I am overly happy with anything, but if we can do better, people show us. Fine. I said something and that’s all. What I said is we need Anfield [against Arsenal] and that’s 100% true and I can’t wait for the first whistle.”
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