Adrian has 'finally arrived' at Liverpool after Southampton howler, says Jurgen Klopp

Blushes spared: Adrian's blunder did not prove too costly for Liverpool at Southampton
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David Lynch17 August 2019

Jurgen Klopp laughed off the Adrian error that almost cost Liverpool a win at Southampton on Saturday, claiming it meant the Spaniard had 'finally arrived' at the club.

The Reds looked in little danger of surrendering a hard-earned two-goal lead at St Mary's before an attempted clearance from their back-up goalkeeper was diverted into the net by Danny Ings.

It was a mistake reminiscent of one made by Liverpool's first-choice between the sticks, Alisson Becker, during the early stages of his own Anfield career - a 2-1 victory at Leicester.

And, given that his team secured the same result on the road following this latest goalkeeping gaffe, Klopp was not overly concerned as he reflected on history repeating itself.

Asked what he told Adrian at full-time on the south coast, the German said: “I said ‘you’ve finally arrived’. Ali did the same, it’s obviously a goalie thing at Liverpool.

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"He made a mistake, no problem with that as long as we win the games.

“Adrian had a swollen ankle, so we played too many balls back to him. I was happy with everything he did today, all the saves, all that stuff.

"The other players have to feel more the responsibility for the build up. You can’t give all the balls back to him and hope the painkillers are working.

“I don’t think the goal was like that, but a few other balls were. He is good with his feet, but if you’d have seen his ankle on Thursday when we left the plane, you’d have said even the pass for the goal was better than you’d have expected.”

Liverpool came through both a testing first half and a late onslaught following Ings' goal to ultimately claim three points against Ralph Hasenhuttl's men.

But Klopp insisted the difficulty of the fixture had more to do with the quality of the opposition than the effects of a midweek Uefa Super Cup clash with Chelsea in Istanbul.

He continued: "It was difficult last year. Southampton are a good team, they defend well and they are difficult to play. Last year we were 1-0 down, it was 3-1 in the end but it was really difficult and this afternoon it was difficult again.

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“Before the game, I said if we came with two weeks’ preparation it would be difficult, and it was. I liked the game, to be honest.

"It’s not allowed to think too much about Wednesday, but of course we know it, so I was impressed with how fresh we looked at the start particularly. I liked how good we were.

“We controlled the game, we were fluent, then we gave a few long balls and set-pieces and Southampton came up. Then Sadio scored in the best moment of the first half, seconds to go, and that helped of course.

“Second half we made more big steps, controlled the game, a lot of good things and then, minute 83 showed up on the screen and Adrian thought ‘I played really well like Ali, maybe I have to make the same mistake as Ali’.

"That made the game more open, then Ings had a big chance, that’s normal. In that moment I think the boys felt the tiredness, when they had to go again.

“But we kept the result, I think we deserved the three points and I am completely fine with it.”

Despite having been withdrawn at half-time on Wednesday, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was named in the starting XI at Southampton once again, this time in a more central role.

And the 26-year-old put in an improved performance, much to the delight of his manager.

He said: “Brilliant. It was different, he was outstandingly good. The 45 minutes on Wednesday we can now say they helped for sure. He felt the intensity and knew he was ready for it.

"We had to make changes and it was important in the centre of the park especially that we were really there, ready for all these long runs and decisive things.

“It was good to have these opportunities, and Ox was obviously not bad today.”

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