Klopp: Brighton defeat down to Liverpool mental fatigue

Jurgen Klopp believes his Liverpool side are mentally fatigued after a 1-0 home defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion dealt another blow to their Premier League title hopes.

The champions had only one shot on target as they suffered back-to-back losses at Anfield, where they have not scored in three consecutive league matches for the first time since 1984.

Manchester City will travel to Merseyside for a huge clash on Sunday leading the Reds by seven points and they also have a game in hand. 

Klopp said well-drilled Brighton deserved a surprise victory that further eased their relegation fears and feels the injury-hit Reds, who were also without goalkeeper Alisson due to illness, are feeling the strain of a demanding schedule.

“We played against really good opposition, that’s clear,” the Liverpool boss told BT Sport.

“We looked mentally not fresh. They deserved to win. We wanted to play better and more convincing. We lost too many balls in promising situations. I know the boys can play pass A to B but today B did not seem reachable.

“We had a really tough week. Brighton is a football-playing team. We were not fresh tonight and that’s when you have to find a way. Each player can play better than they did tonight. I know them, it’s not because they didn’t want to. Something else must be the reason.”

Defeat at Anfield. #LIVBHA

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 3, 2021

The German added: “You saw what went wrong, it’s more about why? The only explanation now is that we are a fatigued team, mentally more or less.

“That leads to not the maximum freshness in your legs. Brighton deserved to win, they played well, they did well.

“We had our moments but they deserved to win. They are a good football side. We had to defend with a lot of running, there is no formation in the world where you are always in the right place.

“The best way to defend against a team like that is to keep the ball yourself but we couldn’t do it tonight.

“The only thing we can do is use the things that happen and learn from them. The solution is always the players. It has been a tough week and tonight it was not enough. City are flying and we have to find solutions.”