By Daily Sports Nigeria on September 13, 2022

Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool know they need to show a reaction when they take on Ajax on Tuesday after they produced the "worst game" in the manager's tenure against Napoli last week.

Liverpool - who reached the Champions League final last season - opened their 2022/23 campaign with a 4-1 humbling in Naples that Klopp ranked below even the 7-2 thrashing suffered at the hands of Aston Villa in October 2020.

Klopp's side saw their Premier League fixture against Wolves last weekend postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, meaning their first opportunity to bounce back from their nightmare start to their European campaign comes at home to the Dutch champions on matchday two.

"We have to show a reaction, we know that," Klopp said. However, he admitted even an improved performance will not "guarantee a result" against Ajax, who have won all seven of their matches this season, including a 4-0 win at home to Rangers in their opening group game.

"Ajax are, I would say, in the opposite situation [to us]," said Klopp. "They're again in a really massive rebuild but, no surprise, are doing a really good job."

Klopp also dismissed any suggestion that the Wolves game being called off would have knocked Liverpool off their "rhythm," joking: "Which rhythm? We had no rhythm.

"Did you watch our game? Losing this rhythm would be really cool!"

Klopp said after the defeat in Italy that Liverpool would have to "reinvent" themselves in a bid to arrest the form that has seen them win just two of their seven matches in all competitions so far this season.

The manager said he had been thinking "a lot" about how to handle that reinvention, adding: "I've watched the game back plenty of times and it was a real horror show."

Klopp said he believes Liverpool's issues against Napoli were caused by too many players producing sub-par performances, explaining: "We showed the boys the situation - they knew but seeing it again makes it really obvious.

"It was the worst game we have played since I'm here and we've had a few bad games - everybody probably remembers Aston Villa and some others where we were just not up to speed.

"But there were always glimpses of us, even in these games. In this particular game? Nothing.

"So obviously you have to understand why that happens. I think it's more an individual thing because probably eight of the 11 were absolutely below their level.

"In football you solve all individual problems as a team and that's what we have to do - to follow a common idea again.

"Everything is based on really solid defending. That's what we had to work on and that's what we did."

Source Sky Sports

Posted September 13, 2022

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