Klopp refusing to get carried away despite Liverpool´s ´special´ points tally

Jurgen Klopp described Liverpool’s record-breaking points tally as “special” but insists he will not get carried away until his side have an unassailable lead at the top of the Premier League. 

The Reds made it 61 points from their 21 league games this season with a 1-0 win at Tottenham on Saturday, courtesy of Roberto Firmino’s first-half goal.

That is the most any side has registered after the same number of games in a single season across Europe’s big five leagues.

Klopp’s men are now a whopping 16 points ahead of second-place Leicester City – who lost to Southampton earlier in the day – although their lead at the summit would be cut to 14 points if Manchester City overcome Aston Villa on Sunday.

“That is special [the points tally],” the German told Sky Sports. “If it would be easy then a lot more teams would have done it.

“It’s really difficult to win the number of games and always be ready to fight on your best day, on your worst day and on the average days. Always that’s what the boys do; that’s why we are here.

 pic.twitter.com/qm22zh2tzM

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 11, 2020

“I’m really happy about it. The only problem is you don’t get anything for best starts apart from numbers. The only thing we are interested in is what happens at the end of the season and so that’s not done yet, because this league is so strong, because we face so many strong opponents.

“The moment that we have enough points that nobody can catch us anymore, then we start talking about it. Until then I couldn’t be less interested.”

Tottenham should have sealed a point late on, with Son Hueng-min and Giovani Lo Celso guilty of squandering golden opportunities, and Klopp expressed his frustration at his side’s failure to put the game out of the hosts’ reach. 

“First and foremost the result is the most important thing,” he said. “One team deserved to win and that was us. That the game was not decided after 50-60 minutes was, of course, our fault as well.

“We had big chances and didn’t score with them. There were a lot of good parts but we should have scored more goals; that’s the truth. We have to be honest to ourselves and that’s what we are.

“So, we could have scored more and when you can do that you have to do it; especially against an opponent like Tottenham, in a stadium like this.”

Despite their stunning campaign, defender Virgil van Dijk claims there is more to come from the Merseysiders. 

“It gives us all a good feeling, but I think you see especially in the second half there’s still room for improvement, so we’re going to have to look at the things we have to improve,” he said.

“That’s the mentality we have and obviously we’re in a good situation but there’s still so much work we can do to make it even easier at times. It’s a difficult place to come and three points is outstanding for us.”