Klopp defends Moreno and Henderson

It is often said in football you are only as good as your last game. Liverpool’s Alberto Moreno may beg to differ. He endured a torrid second half in Sevilla on Tuesday as they let a 3-0 lead slip in the Champions League, ensuring a swift reassessment of a much-improved season.

Fortunately for him, his manager is less willing to condemn on the basis of a poor 20 minutes, Jurgen Klopp stating he still “100 per cent” trusts the left-back. “I can imagine what people are doing. I can’t be interested in that,” said Klopp. “I try to really teach the players that the only thing that is important is what I think for their future.

“The problem is the whole world watches our mistakes. Television and all that stuff. A lot of people say things about it, a lot of former players are saying things about it. That’s our life, it will never change. We don’t have to think about it.”

Moreno is not alone in the scapegoat pursuit following every Liverpool setback. Dejan Lovren has been under fire, and Jordan Henderson’s leadership credentials also scrutinised because the team’s ingame management was lacking as momentum shifted in the 3-3 draw.

Defending his captain, Klopp suggested Henderson was being unfairly judged by the standard of his predecessor, Steven Gerrard. “I would love to see one of the big pundits being on the pitch and in a game like this [Sevilla] be the person who changed the whole game. That really is f------ legend. It really never happens,” said Klopp.

“You stand in between saying, ‘Come on, push up’. Things like this. If we score the fourth goal then everything is fine and Jordan is fine. Could he change the game on the pitch? No. Was he too deep in a few positions? Yes. Does that make me think he cannot play as No6? No, of course not. Can he improve? Yes. But did he improve already a lot? Wow, 100 per cent. He is a proper captain.

“He wasn’t when I came in but only because he didn’t know how to do it because nobody had to think about how to be captain at Liverpool because they had one for 20 years [Gerrard]. So from the first moment whatever he [Henderson] is doing it is not good enough because, even when he is good, he is still not as good as the other one was.

“How you can say he needs to be better because he has the captaincy? I will never get this kind of talk. I don’t understand that.”