Dejan Lovren reveals Jurgen Klopp's dressing room message after Man City defeat

Lovren and his side were beaten for the first time in the league this season on Thursday.
REUTERS
David Lynch4 January 2019

Dejan Lovren has revealed the dressing room message delivered by Jurgen Klopp in the aftermath of Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City.

The Reds saw their lead at the top of the Premier League cut to just four points on Thursday evening as they lost a top-flight game for the first time this season, going down 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

But, according to Lovren, the manager was not too dismayed when speaking to his players at full-time, and preached the importance of focusing on the next game once again.

"The message was to stay calm. There are many games in front of us, and we knew it was a big season and we are still first,” he said.

"Like I said, nothing changed. We need to stay calm, keep our focus game by game and do not look back. When we win or we lose, we will not look back.

“Just like when we have been winning through this season, we keep calm now when we lose. We lose, we stick together and we will continue.

“Again, we showed our ability to come back, but today it wasn't enough."

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Liverpool could have claimed a near-decisive 10-point lead over the champions had they emerged victorious in Manchester.

But Lovren rejected suggestions that the pressure told on him and his teammates, and reiterated his belief that the Reds can go all the way this year.

He added: “For one game I don't know, people already questioned us even before the season, even now they said the game is already the title.

“It doesn't work in football like that. It is game by game, let us see at the end of the season where we will finish.

“But I don't think it will change anything. No, we are quite strong, strong in the mentality.

"This is Liverpool we will always come back when it's tough. And you know it is tough after the last whistle.

“But it is over, finished, we can't change it, so we will accept that, congratulate Manchester City – but the season is quite long and I believe in this team.”

The Croatian’s centre-half partner, Virgil van Dijk, echoed those sentiments when speaking after the game.

The Netherlands captain was keen to remind observers that Klopp’s team remain firmly in the driving seat when it comes to the title race.

He continued: “You can’t look at this situation in a negative way. We are still top of the league, with a four point lead. It is still looking fine for us.

"It may be something people are forgetting - they won, but we are still on top and we are still confident.

"We are playing well which we showed today. We put them under pressure, we created good chances, if we scored that first [chance] it is a completely different game. Obviously it hurts now but we will make sure we recover.

“I said it before there will be setbacks. That is normal. Now it is about how we react and I am sure we will react properly.”

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