Jurgen Klopp claimed Liverpool wouldn’t have beaten Manchester City even if their opponents were reduced to ten men on Saturday.
Despite taking the lead at the Etihad Stadium through Mohamed Salah, the Reds slumped to a 4-1 mauling. Goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish guided the reigning Premier League champions to a thoroughly deserved win.
Despite that, there was some controversy as Rodri was somewhat fortunate to avoid picking up two quickfire bookings and simultaneously steered away from a dismissal. Liverpool boss Klopp was asked about the decision to allow the midfielder to continue in his post-match press conference.
Whilst the German suggested he could well have been given his marching orders, he damningly claimed that his side wouldn't have even been victorious with a man advantage - a mark of their dire performance at the Etihad.
Speaking after the game, he said: “I didn’t see good enough. I realised the situation but could he have got a second yellow? Yes, probably. He will not get it now. And yeah I’m not sure we would have won today against ten men.”
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Among those baffled by the decision to not send Rodri off was former Swansea star Ashley Williams. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “As a fan watching this game, that’s a yellow card, all day long that’s a second yellow card. It’s a confusing one for me. How many of them do you see that get a yellow card?”
Klopp continued to tear into his side for their display and claimed that only a clutch of his players came out of the clash with credit. He added: "Four performances were okay, the two midfielders, Hendo [ Jordan Henderson ] and Fab [Fabinho], worked a lot, Cody [Gakpo] and Ali [Alisson] and that is very difficult.
"If you want to get something here, 14 or 15 players have to be on top of their game and that was not the case.
"We had a situation for 3-2 when Robbo broke through but apart from that City could do what they wanted because the spaces were too big so we were lucky they only scored one more."
Klopp will certainly hope to get his side back on track over the next few weeks as they aim to secure a place in the Champions League ahead of next season but face a handful of testing fixtures. Ahead of clashes with Chelsea and current table-toppers Arsenal next week, the Reds are eighth and seven points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.
The Merseysiders are now on a run of three consecutive defeats and have not lost four matches in a row in all competitions since 2014.
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