Jurgen Klopp has explained his decision to play James Milner instead of Joe Gomez in their UCL game against Genk. The Merseysiders clinched a 4-1 victory as pundits and fans alike were left confused over Klopp’s team selection.
“I don’t see it as though I picked James over Joe,” he said. “I only picked Millie.”
“Trent, we found out on Tuesday morning that he had become ill. It wasn’t a lot of time for us and we wanted to change as little as possible.”
“In the way we wanted to play, Millie was the clear number one solution for that moment.”
“But after 15 minutes already it was clear that we had to try to change a bit again.”
“Joe did really well when he came on, he looked confident and clear. It was good. It was nothing against Joe (that he wasn’t playing).”
“If Genk play a 4-4-2, a 4-4-1-1, a lot of times the system is the same,” said Klopp. “The only difference today was the offensive part with a pretty tall player on the pitch.”
“It was a smart idea, it’s not the first time teams have done this against us because you cannot win the first ball constantly every time.”
“We tried not to make fouls and to win the challenge. But of course then they can put their bodies in there and fight for the second balls, and that is uncomfortable.”
“We didn’t expect it, but it wasn’t a massive surprise.”
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