Klopp laments lack of patience at Anfield

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp called for patience from his players and fans following Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea in front of a restless Anfield crowd.

Playing in front of the Kop for the final time this Premier League season and gearing up for the Europa League final, the atmosphere was typically electric as Liverpool salvaged a point thanks to Christian Benteke’s 92nd-minute equaliser.

Benteke came off the bench and cancelled out Eden Hazard’s first-half opener, extending Liverpool’s unbeaten streak at home in the Premier League to eight matches.

While happy to avoid defeat, Klopp lamented Liverpool’s eagerness in front of goal, urging the entire club to have faith in their ability.

“I love this stadium. I love this atmosphere,” Klopp told reporters.”[But] everybody lost patience today. The crowd too.

“It’s difficult when you have the ball and the manager says to be patient and everyone shouts to run.

“So you see we all don’t trust our quality and we can learn this in the future. Because if you don’t think you need to score in each situation because you know you will have more chances then you could celebrate other situations.”

Klopp, whose Liverpool will face Sevilla in the Europa League final on May 18, added: “First 15 minutes were great. [It was] wonderful football without scoring.

“I said to my players after the game that this was the most important game of the season because we could learn a lot from it. We showed in the first 15 minutes what we’re capable of.

“But we did not have enough trust and faith in our own quality. We lost patience. When you lose patience in football it is always difficult. With patience, we lost formation.

“We had a lot of moments around the box, when we shot when we should have passed. You have three players around the ball and one of them shoots, and the ball is blocked and you have no formation to win the ball back.

“Chelsea showed a lot of their usual quality. It was difficult for us. In the second half we tried to do better.

“We didn’t defend really compact but we invested a lot and it makes you tired. It’s like a boxer, you get tired when you hit all the time.

“Of course they could have scored a second but [Simon] Mignolet did brilliant and Kolo [Toure] and Dejan [Lovren] in one or two situations, they saved our lives in these moments.

“We still had the opportunity to score and we had two or three good moments, and we used one. It’s not too lucky but we could have lost today, it’s clear. But we can take a lot from this match. We are all together.”