Jürgen Klopp criticized Liverpool's openness in their defeat in Salzburg.
Jurgen Klopp slammed Liverpool's openness after the club's 1-0 friendly loss to Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.
Liverpool's pre-season campaign came to an end with a 1-0 loss to the Austrian champions at the Red Bull Arena, as Benjamin Sesko's first-half goal clinched a narrow win for Salzburg.
The Reds were far from their best and failed to build on Thursday's 5-0 hammering of RB Leipzig, albeit the game gave Klopp the opportunity to give minutes to 22 players ahead of this weekend's Community Shield encounter with Manchester City at the King Power Stadium.
The game began with an inexperienced lineup that included teenagers Isaac Mabaya, Stefan Bajcetic, Harvey Elliott, and Fabio Carvalho, until a slew of veteran names were introduced in the second quarter.
Salzburg, who have already begun their defense of the Austrian Bundesliga, proved difficult opponents, and Klopp admitted that his team'made too many mistakes' in the loss.
"We made too many mistakes in the first half that they could exploit," Klopp told the club's official website.
"We had good moments as well; certainly, we could have scored four or five goals in the entire game."We didn't do that because, if you want to talk about football, we were too open, too wide, and not linked enough in instances when you lose the ball in the first half.
"Then everything opens up, it's like a highway, and with their speed, that's how they got their chances, especially when you lose simple passes where no one can react."
When questioned if the club's young players would benefit from the experience, Klopp asserted that his entire squad "can do far better" than their performance in Austria.
"It's not about that; all the boys can do much better."We played in the first half against a team that could participate in the Champions League; they'd have to qualify first, but they could play. And it's a difficult challenge for the lineup we've chosen.
"As I already stated, they do exceptionally well, and we played into their hands." When you play football but are not connected, you lose the ball, which means there is always space for a counter-attack. That's exactly what we offered them. That is what we must learn. That's what we know, but maybe we didn't know it well enough in the first half, and that's why we gave up the goal."
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