Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was cagey when prompted to give Nottingham Forest credit for their victory at the City Ground.
Speaking after the match, Klopp bemoaned his team for their inability to take a number of clear-cut chances from set-pieces throughout the afternoon. While he did acknowledge Forest's performance, he did say he was "not sure where I should put praise on" them after the match.
Forest won 1-0 thanks to a second-half strike from Taiwo Awoniyi, with Dean Henderson performing heroics towards the end of the match to secure all three points. Klopp was more frustrated at his team's own finishing than he was impressed by the Reds.
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"The performance I can explain, the result not to be honest," Klopp told BT Sport after the match. "I never saw that game where one team has, not sure, four or five no-brainers from a set-piece where we have to finish it off, we were perfectly prepared for that. Bobby first-half, Virgil two times, three times, you have to put the game to bed because the goal from us is a big mistake.
"Apart from that, all the chances we gave them because we played too often wrong passes in the centre. It happened anyway. They closed the centre so much, so the wings was possible, it will not be a free flowing performance, we knew that with the late changes and a lot of changes. It’s a game you have to win by doing the right stuff again and again and we didn’t. That’s why we stood here and haven’t won the game.
When it was suggested Forest should get credit for their performance, he said: "It’s Premier League and they’re all good, all fight, but giving teams six clear chances, I’m not sure where I should put praise on.
"They’re a great team, Steve ’s a fantastic manager. For us, we have to win here - done - but we didn’t. Credit to Nottingham, it was us against the goalkeeper, us against ourselves and not us against Nottingham Forest, nobody defended Bobby, Virg, we didn’t use it."
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