Jurgen Klopp believes delayed Adam Lallana substitution would have prevented Chelsea's late equaliser
The Reds were told to wait to make their changes before Willian scored
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Your support makes all the difference.Jürgen Klopp believes Willian’s late equaliser for Chelsea at Anfield might not have happened had he been allowed to make the tactical substitution he was made to wait for by referee Michael Oliver.
Liverpool were closing in on victory through Mohamed Salah’s second half goal when Willian’s cross dipped over Simon Mignolet in the 85th minute.
Klopp had attempted to bring on Adam Lallana for several minutes but was waved away by Oliver. Lallana’s introduction would have meant Liverpool switching to a back three and subsequently, Ragnar Klavan would have been expected to be in the zone of the pitch where Willian’s delivery came from.
The moment prompted Klopp and his assistant Zeljko Buvac to remonstrate angrily with the fourth official.
“I was not happy about it,” Klopp admitted. “In my mind, Ragnar would have been in exactly the position where Willian crossed the ball. I have no idea why he [Oliver] said no.”
The draw means Liverpool trail Manchester City at the top of the table, who have a game in hand, by eleven points. Chelsea’s deficit is by eight.
“If we think about City we’ll all go crazy,” Klopp joked. “I think it’s really important in life you have your own targets and the right targets. In the second half I did not think about Man City. But I thought we should have won it and then we’d have three points more. The position is still ok but we can still improve. A performance like tonight should not be taken for granted because lots of things can happen. But that does not mean I am happy with the result.”
Klopp was surprised by Chelsea’s approach. Antonio Conte included three defensive midfielders in his side.
“I think we must be pleased,” Conte reflected. “Both teams played with great intensity from the start until the end. It was very difficult for us to play after no rest for my players. It’s not simple because we play against a really strong team in a difficult atmosphere. We were always dangerous in possession and in the second half created many chances to score. The goal conceded was unlucky if you see the dynamic. But the reaction to this was great. There was a desire not to accept the result and then we tried to win the game. We must be pleased despite the draw.”
For Conte, Eden Hazard was Chelsea’s stand-out player. Conte suggested the Belgian will play more often as a centre forward from now on.
“As you know very well, the start of this season was full of trouble. He had an injury with the national team and we started it without him,” Conte added. “It’s very important to have the best time for your recovery. Now Eden is in very good form. He likes to play as a striker and he has a very good link with Alvaro. It is good this season we can play with the two systems. Against Qarabag we played with 3-4-1-2 and here we played 3-5-2. It is important we do not lose our identity.”
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