‘Tried to’ - Jurgen Klopp says exactly what was Liverpool’s biggest problem in Chelsea draw

Jurgen Klopp has explained that Liverpool's problem against Chelsea was that they went on the back rather than the front foot when out of possession.

The Reds opened their 2023-24 Premier League account with a 1-1 draw against the Blues at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool made a barnstorming start to the game, with Luis Diaz breaking the deadlock in the 18th minute before Mo Salah had a goal disallowed by VAR for drifting slightly offside.

But Chelsea got back into the clash through Axel Disasi and then had a goal of their own chalked off by VAR when Ben Chilwell converted. Liverpool spent much of the second period in their own territory although they did limit Mauricio Pochetinno's men to a dearth of clear-cut opportunities.

Klopp admitted he was satisfied with a point against a tough opponent in their maiden fixture of the campaign.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, the Reds chief said: “I’m OK with a point. I saw the game, so I know who could've won... we could've lost as well, that's how it is. I think they had the last chance of the game, right? That would've been a great moment to finish it off. But we had a really good start into the game, [I] liked that a lot. Everything was there what we were working on. [We] scored two wonderful goals, one disallowed for offside, was really close. The build-up to that goal anyway was absolutely top-class. But then we opened the door for Chelsea. We lost the ball in one or two situations which was unnecessary and I think the second goal was around a set-piece. I'm not 100 per cent sure.

The other goal when we won the ball, but we didn't clear it enough, but it was offside as well. But obviously Chelsea was better in the game. It was an open game then and second half with the crowd and all these things, we had to dig really deep and fight hard. In the end we got a point and that's OK. I saw a lot of things I liked and, of course, some things I didn't like particularly, but it's a first game in a tough place. I tend to see it rather positive to be honest. So far in my career the first matchdays were always difficult and an away game at Chelsea as a first matchday is not a top draw. So we have a point and we keep working."

With Liverpool still to recruit a new defensive midfielder to replace the departed duo Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, Alexis Mac Allister was screened the back four.

Meanwhile, Cody Gakpo was dropped into the engine room despite being a centre-forward. On his midfield decisions, Klopp explained: “He [Gakpo]was an eight. He had to do what an eight has to do... he played that pretty much all pre-season. He can play different positions. For players that's very important in modern football that we should get rid of these [set positions]. When we decided everybody can have their own number on the back then the No.2 was not a No.2 anymore and a No.6 was not a No.6 anymore... that was the first step in the right direction. I think modern football is like that.

“Players can play different positions and Dom Szoboszlai didn't play the position in his former club as well, he played more from the wing. Defensively, especially, offensively he was more half-space. So, the role suits him, definitely. He is for us super-important. I think today you could see the first game of the season [there were] a lot of spaces to cover, gaps to close and that was actually our problem in the game.

“We tried to close the gaps by dropping instead of stepping in but we did in the beginning. Then they could find [Raheem] Sterling between the lines, [Reece] James was all of a sudden in the game, [Ben] Chilwell better in the game with his things. We should've solved it better. The best way to avoid these kind of things [is] obviously controlling the game [which] we could've done because when we did that we passed in the right moment and kept the ball in the right moment and created one [v] one situations on the wing, so it was really tricky for Chelsea to deal with. It's the first game, not the last, so we have a lot of things to improve [there's] no doubt about that, but I saw already a good basis.”