‘They put in a good fight’ – Jurgen Klopp praises Liverpool’s reaction and in draw with managerless Chelsea

The Reds were arguably second best in West London as the managerless Blues saw a goal ruled out in each half for offside and handball from Reece James and Kai Havertz.

The result left Liverpool eighth in the Premier League table, four points and three places better off than Chelsea, who remain in the bottom half.

Klopp told Sky Sports: “So I saw a couple of 0-0s against Chelsea over the last few years. The two finals are two of the best games I’ve seen. Tonight was different.

“Two teams on a low confidence level but they put in a good fight. Super attitude and super mentality and that’s what I saw. They had chance, we had chance. We had to fight until the end, they had to fight until the end. It was a super intense game but not a spectacular game.

“I saw a lot of great challenges, people flying into tackles and that’s what we need. Midfield, the three of them didn’t play that often together. That’s what we have to build on it.

“If things don’t go your way you have to fight through this and make steps. Sometimes smaller ones, sometimes bigger ones and this was a smaller one.

“From a passion point of view, I really liked the game. Yes, it was not the best football but these boys are really good footballers and tonight they put in a proper shift.

“I thought really for the six changes especially, it was good tonight and that’s what I take. They wanted to win desperately, we did as well, but we have to take a point.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea interim head coach Bruno Saltor felt his players deserved more from the match in what had been an emotional past three days following Graham Potter’s dismissal.

“I have asked the players to play with their hearts and I think we saw that on the pitch,” he told Sky Sports in his post-match interview.

“We created chances and I think we deserved to win. Yes, offside, and a handball, we had one v ones with their keeper.”

“These have been emotional days and the players have been able to keep focused. It’s a credit to them. You need to score to win, football is that simple. But what we need to do is keep helping the players. We need to keep helping them and guiding them. It’s outstanding.”

The Spaniard also reflected on having N’Golo Kante back in the starting line-up for the first time in seven months since recovering from hamstring surgery.

He was also quizzed on the future, but put the emphasis back on the players ahead of Chelsea’s next match at Wolves on Saturday.

“What he brings to the team in terms of football and leadership is outstanding. It’s a massive plus to have him back.

“What we are trying to do is go day by day, be professional and it’s a difficult situation but everyone is doing the best they can. The only thing that I can say is that I’m happy with the performance for them it’s credit to them.

“It’s a difficult season for them. To come back from what we have had in the last few days is incredible. They have to be proud of themselves.”