Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp says his charges were not positive enough in Saturday’s 1-1 Premier League draw against Newcastle United at Anfield.
Mohammed Salah’s third minute strike was canceled out by Joe Willock’s effort at the death as both sides settled for a share of the spoils.
Klopp said the failure of his side to put away their early chances was primarily responsible for the dropped points at home.
“I am frustrated and angry as well,” Klopp said at his post-match press conference. “The game we played is a game we should win but we didn’t so we should think about the reasons we didn’t.
“We scored the first goal but we didn’t use any of our other chances we should have used obviously and that’s pretty much the story of the game.
“If you don’t finish off a game like this, you keep the opponent alive.
“In the first half, it was all fine. We were missing chances but it was fine. In the second half, we stopped playing football but we later got that back again we didn’t finish it off.
“But against a deep defending side, you don’t get 12 chances in a row. We didn’t use the chances that we got so that’s how it is. You need to stay more positive in your approach. We weren’t but for Newcastle, it was the opposite.”
Liverpool are in sixth place in the Premier League standings with 54 points from 33 matches with five more games to go.
The Reds trail fourth-placed Chelsea by a solitary point in the race for the Champions League places but the Blues have played a game less.
Klopp concluded by discussing the impact made by Salah at Liverpool with the Egyptian now netting 20 plus goals in three consecutive seasons for the Reds.
“Imagine if we didn’t have him,” Klopp added. “He scored today and could have had another one. He played a good game but it wasn’t enough.
“We want to qualify for the Champions League next year but why should we play in the Champions League next year with performances like these?
“You have to control the game more against opponents like Newcastle with all respect. They only had chances when we gave them.
“We had to certain things again and again in the game and to do that, we had to stay positive but we didn’t.”
