Klopp compares penalty record with Man United as Liverpool denied spot kick

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

VIDEO SHOWS: NEWS CONFERENCE WITH LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, STILL PHOTOGRAPHS FROM SOUTHAMPTON'S 1-0 WIN OVER LIVERPOOL

SHOWS:

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 4, 2021) (LIVERPOOL FC HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"Yeah. So, I turned around in the situation; we had a really good view on it and it looked like a clear penalty in that situation. I turned around to the fourth official and he said that 'we've had checked it already no penalty'. That's the 100% truth and now somebody wants to tell me how quick they had it in all these different angles but that's 100% 'we checked it already, no pen'. Look when you have situations, what the boys really want, you have a situation -- there are moments when we had last year, I think a penalty or two years ago, I don't know, against Leicester and people said, 'Sadio Mane going down that easy.' If this boy would go down easy we would have had this type of penalty and that kind of penalty, a stonewall penalty, but what Andre Marriner did with Sadio Mane tonight, I'm not sure if that's still OK, to be honest. So, like the boys tried absolutely everything. There were a few great challenges (INAUDIBLE) but there were a lot of situations which should have been free kicks as well and then the last situation when he goes down if you see that back in the box he hits him in the end with his left foot and that's another penalty. We cannot change it. I heard now that Man United had more penalties in two years since Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer) is there than I have had in five and a half years. I have no idea if it's my fault or I don't know how that can happen. But that's no excuse for the performance of tonight because that's something we can change. The rest we cannot change we just have to respect the decisions, but our performance we can change and that's where we will put all the effort in now."

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"I know they're great guys there super boys, they're fantastic football players but anyway tonight they were not good so and yes. When I think they should have done better then I get angry, not (for) long but I get angry. So, and they know that and it was always like this. We cannot only be like this all the time just because we want something to pass but you don't have to make it bigger than this but it's big. So, we didn't win the last game, the game before that. I don't know - the last four games we didn't win, is that right? I don't know exactly. So, and that's all our fault. It maybe my fault, but the boys have a hand in it as well and we have to change that. And if you bring yourself in a situation like we did tonight against an opponent like Southampton, then you play with the fire, let me say like this. And you go 'Oh my God we can change it'; no, no, no we can't. Southampton is too good for that. Premier League teams are too good for that and we don't score late goals because we scored late goals in our past or in the past. No, no, no; we do that because you put an opponent that much under pressure that he cannot cope with it anymore. I think Southampton tonight were on the edge of it but they could still cope with it because we helped. So, that's all. We were not good enough tonight."

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY, 4, 2021) (REUTERS PICTURES- ACCESS ALL) (MUTE)

4. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF SOUTHAMPTON'S DANNY INGS SCORING THE ONLY GOAL IN THE GAME AGAINST LIVERPOOL

5. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF INGS CELEBRATING

6. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF SOUTHAMPTON MANAGER, RALPH HASSENHUTTL

7. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP

8. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF KLOPP STANDING ON THE TOUCHLINE WITH HASSENHUTTL ON HIS KNEES IN THE BACKGROUND

9. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL'S SADIO MANE (BLUE SHIRT) BEING CHALLENGED BY SOUTHAMPTON'S KYLE WALKER-PETERS

10. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF KLOPP AND MANE AFTER THE MATCH

11. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL'S ROBERTO FIRMINO AFTER THE MATCH

12. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL'S MOHAMED SALAH CHALLENGING FOR THE BALL

13. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL'S JORDAN HENDERSON LOOKING ON

STORY: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said it was baffling that the Premier League champions were not awarded a penalty in Monday's (January 4) 1-0 loss at Southampton and claimed other teams would not have been denied by the officials.

Liverpool fell behind to a second-minute lob by former striker Danny Ings and had a penalty claim dismissed when Georginio Wijnaldum's shot from inside the box was blocked by the hand of Jack Stephens.

The league leaders were left frustrated again when Kyle Walker-Peters went unpunished after bringing down Sadio Mane in the penalty area.

Klopp told reporters he felt that other teams would have been awarded the penalty and compared his side's penalty record since he joined the club in 2015 with that of Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who's been at the cub since December 2018. Since the start of the 2018/19 season, Manchester United have been awarded 32 penalties in the Premier League whereas Liverpool have had 17.

The result means Liverpool are only top of league due to goal difference with Manchester United in second place with a game in hand.

Liverpool face Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round on Friday (January 8) before a league clash against United on January 17.

(Production: Tim Hart)