Klopp relieved at Liverpool’s response to early criticism

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp praised his team for riding out recent criticism of its dip in form to register a comfortable win over Rangers in the Champions League late Tuesday night.

Last year’s Champions League and English Premier League runner-up has had a faltering start to the season, losing its opening game in Europe to Napoli and sitting a relatively lowly ninth in the domestic competition.

But the Reds brushed aside their Scottish opponents at Anfield with a 2-0 victory that would have been a bigger margin had it not been for Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor’s heroics.

“I liked the game a lot. We got three points. That’s the important thing,” Klopp said, looking happy but more subdued than usual after a European win that left Liverpool second in Group A on six points after three games.

“I can’t wait for the moment when I can read newspapers again. But the criticism is completely fine. We are not over the moon about our situation,” he said of the reaction to Liverpool’s latest leaky performance in a 3-3 draw at home to Brighton at the weekend.

“I saw tonight a team fully committed, that’s what I like a lot. It was exactly what we needed tonight. A new formation, we had to change things. We had plenty of chances, imagine if we had taken more of them. Really good game. Very important.

“We expected a reaction.

Everyone expected a reaction. We really want to turn this into a positive and for that we need consistency. For that, you need top-class defending and we had that tonight. It worked out pretty well.”

Right back Trent Alexander-Arnold has been particularly under fire of late for Liverpool, criticized for leaving gaps in defence as he marauds forward.

Yet he got it all right on Tuesday, scoring a spectacular free kick to set Liverpool on the path to victory while also helping to keep a clean sheet.

“He played a good game, defensively especially. And a wonderful goal, eh? I am happy that he had that,” said Klopp, noting some tweaks in the formation to give Alexander-Arnold more cover when he went forward.

Klopp, whose team is three points behind Napoli in Group A though still in a qualifying position, said he expected a very different game when Liverpool faces Rangers in Scotland next week.

“We respect them a lot.” Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur squandered a string of chances and failed to get a shot for more than 80 minutes, settling for a goalless draw at Eintracht Frankfurt in Champions Group D.

Spurs, who lost 3-1 to London rival Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday, had plenty of opportunities through Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Ivan Perisic, especially in the first half, but have now gone seven European away matches without a win.

It was also the fifth straight game in the event that they did not score in the first half.

Europa League winner Eintracht and Tottenham are both on four points, with Sporting Lisbon in top spot on six despite its 4-1 loss to bottom club Olympique de Marseille, which has three points.