Jurgen Klopp insisted he was surprised by Arsene Wenger’s decision to leave Alexis Sanchez on the bench after Arsenal lost 3-1 to Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday evening.
The Gunners made the long trip to Merseyside in the Premier League’s late kick-off but Wenger opted to start with Olivier Giroud, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Welbeck.
The north London outfit were 2-0 down at half-time after goals from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in the first half at Anfield.
Wenger turned to Sanchez at half-time and the South American forward teed up Welbeck to halve the deficit after Georginio Wijnaldum restored the home side’s two-goal cushion.
Speaking at his post-match media conference after Liverpool’s 3-1 win against Arsenal, Klopp offered his thoughts on his rival manager’s decision to leave out Sanchez.
“I’m 17 years a manager and I’m really not surprised about any line-ups in my life… only if somebody broke their leg last week and then he starts. Then I’d think I’d want to meet the doctor! We always make the analysis without knowing who is playing.
“You can imagine, we did it with Alexis Sanchez in the line-up, but then when [Olivier] Giroud is on the pitch, it’s a different game because they cross more often. For us, it was not a big advantage; as I said, Alexis had a big impact on the game, but because we had to adapt to it.
“If he starts, then we could have already a better solution from the beginning.”
Liverpool hoisted themselves about Arsenal and into fourth place in the Premier League table thank to their 3-1 win on Saturday evening.
The Reds will take on Burnley in their next Premier League game on Sunday 12 March.
COMMENTS