Jurgen Klopp names two Liverpool players who were 'really good' despite Crystal Palace defeat

Jurgen Klopp refused to pin blame on his Liverpool players suffering from fatigue after their Premier League title hopes suffered a blow.

The Reds were defeated 1-0 by Crystal Palace at Anfield, which means Manchester City are two points clear at the top of the table. Arsenal, meanwhile, are second and level on points with Liverpool but have a better goal difference of eight.

Liverpool’s performance against Palace in the first half was lacklustre while they missed a bevy of chances in the second period. Klopp’s men have now lost their previous two matches after a shock 3-0 reverse against Atalanta in the Europa League quarter-final first leg.

The Reds have had a plethora of injury problems throughout the season, meaning that their squad has been stretched. Klopp admitted that Wataru Endo and Alexis Mac Allister could be feeling the impact of the busy schedule but believes Liverpool have to get to the bottom why their recent performances have been found wanting.

But he was encouraged by the performance of Curtis Jones, who recently came back from an ankle injury while Trent Alexander-Arnold came off the bench to make his first outing after a knee issue.

Liverpool manager Klopp said: “Did Wataru [Endo] and Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] now play a little bit too much in the last few weeks? Maybe, they were the two most-used [players], especially Macca. The other guys came back from injury. I would say Curtis [Jones] today was really good. Dom [Szoboszlai] came back from injury, stuff like this, kind of rhythm. I think for the situation Trent [Alexander-Arnold] is in, that was really good but I don't think he could now play 120 minutes, let me say it like that. Robbo [Andy Robertson] came back from injury.

“All these kind of things, so a couple of players had to play a lot and a couple of players always were interrupted – that's a bit the situation. It's actually not too interesting for us if we find now the real answer. We just have to make sure that we don't think about where we are coming from – whether they are injured or whether they are not – and we just have to make sure we find a way to beat the specific opponent in front of us. It's always like this.

“For winning, as a manager you find a lot of explanations, 'This was great, this was great.' When you lose, it's not as easy to find these things and they might be obvious but it's not about now putting the finger into that or that or that.

“The solution is always being really together on the pitch for us. Where we are, we got because we were against the ball an absolute machine, and that's what we have to be. In that moment, we have the rhythm, we have the momentum in the game, it's difficult for the opponent, they don't feel great, we feel much better and then these boys can really play football. Today they showed in a really difficult situation that they can do that, and that was good. But it doesn't feel great anyway because we lost the game and we planned this day completely differently. But here we are and, how I said, we have to deal with that.”