Jurgen Klopp pays tribute to Roy Hodgson as Liverpool go top – for now

Jurgen Klopp pays tribute to Roy Hodgson and jokes that the Watford boss will still be organising sides when he is EIGHTY following Liverpool’s win over his relegation-threatened outfit

  • Jurgen Klopp sees his side beat Watford thanks to goals from Jota and Fabinho
  • Liverpool briefly go top of the league ahead of Manchester City’s trip to Burnley
  • The German says his side are not feeling the pressure ahead of next weekend 

Jurgen Klopp paid tribute to Roy Hodgson after seeing his side beat Watford 2-0 and go top of the Premier League table for at least a few hours.

Goals from Diogo Jota, his 20th of the campaign, and Fabinho settled the Saturday lunchtime fixture that leaves Watford in 18th, three points of adrift of safety albeit having played three more games than Everton who are 17th.  

Despite being relatively untroubled throughout, Klopp refused to be drawn on analysing the game in much detail. 

Jurgen Klopp paid tribute to his counterpart Roy Hodgson for the organisation of his side

Jurgen Klopp paid tribute to his counterpart Roy Hodgson for the organisation of his side

He instead chose to compliment Hodgson, saying that his side needed ‘desire’ to beat a staunch Watford outfit. 

He said: ‘Big compliments to Watford and Roy. When he’s 80 he’ll bring back a team and be organised and brilliant.’ 

He added: ‘We needed desire, but with the ball we could’ve been more creative.’ 

With the season reaching the business end and results mattering more than ever, Klopp did not appear concerned about Mohamed Salah’s off-day in front of goal. 

Fabinho's late penalty settled the affair for Liverpool sending them briefly top of the league

Fabinho’s late penalty settled the affair for Liverpool sending them briefly top of the league

‘We scored the two goals and that was enough,’ the German said. 

Meanwhile, Klopp swatted away any suggestions that he and his side were feeling the pressure of the title race having not expected to have been in this position in January when they were 14 points off Manchester City. 

‘I actually didn’t have a lot of alternatives for it to be different because we had important games,’ Klopp said when asked if he believed in January that his side could reel in the champions. 

‘Fourteen points behind City means you are in trouble of qualifying for the Champions League. You cannot be champions, we had to qualify for the Champions League,’ he added.

‘We had no chance to influence City since then. I saw some of their games and the performance level was incredible.

Roy Hodgson had few complaints but did rage against the awarding of the late penalty

Roy Hodgson had few complaints but did rage against the awarding of the late penalty

‘We wanted to qualify in the Champions League, we wanted to come (win) into a cup competition, and the rest just happened while trying to play the best football possible.

‘We didn’t play the best football possible today but it was enough, I was really happy we came through.’

Hodgson admitted that games were running out for his side to haul themselves to safety, but expressed disappointment at the late award of a penalty after a VAR check. 

Juraj Kucka was adjudged to have hauled down Jota at a corner and referee Stuart Atwell awarded a spot kick after being advised to check the incident on the pitch-side monitor. 

Diogo Jota's 20th goal of the season put Liverpool ahead after Watford had missed a chance

Diogo Jota’s 20th goal of the season put Liverpool ahead after Watford had missed a chance

 ‘It is the only sad moment for me today,’ said Hodgson.

‘VAR has done a lot of very good things since it has been introduced in English football, this year better than last year, but I still find it hard to see a situation where literally no-one sees the incident.

‘Not one Liverpool player complained about being fouled – but the game is stopped in the 88th minute and they are given the chance to make it 2-0 and that leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth.’

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.