Jurgen Klopp has blamed Liverpool’s lack of ‘final punch’ in the final third for their defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield on Saturday.
The game ended 1-1 and went straight to a penalty shootout, which Arsenal won 5-4, but Klopp believes Liverpool should’ve won the game in regular time.
‘In these games you need the final punch,’ said Klopp. ‘We should’ve created more but we had to be careful because of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang because they are strong in counter-attack.’
Aubameyang once again showed how important he is to this Arsenal side with another crucial goal.
Mikel Arteta is hoping a contract extension can be done sooner rather than later to lock him down to another three years at the Emirates.
Takumi Minamino levelled the scores in the second half, and the game went straight to penalties at full-time.
Stoppage time substitute Rhian Brewster hit the bar with his penalty, as Arsenal scored all five of their own for the win.
‘We had some good moments,’ the Reds manager continued. ‘We deserved the equaliser for sure and could’ve scored more. But we didn’t do that and the shootout is always a lottery. Congratulations to arsenal, we’ll respect the competition.’
Klopp also lamented playing against a very defensive Arsenal formation, the kind of which Liverpool have become used to facing over the past few years.
‘When you play against a formation like this, which happens to us always, you need to be really fresh in the final third. You have to force it sometimes, create angles, pass in behind. We couldn’t create exactly the chances we wanted.
‘We created two, and scored with the third. On some days that’s enough, but today, if you don’t finish them off, it’s not enough.’
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