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'He's a monster' | Klopp full of praise for Phillips on his league debut

It was all about the youngsters at Anfield on Saturday night as Liverpool came from behind to bea...



'He's a monster' | Klopp full...
Soccer

'He's a monster' | Klopp full of praise for Phillips on his league debut

It was all about the youngsters at Anfield on Saturday night as Liverpool came from behind to beat West Ham 2-1 and go top of the Premier League table. 

23-year-old Diogo Jota came on and scored the winner, as well as another that was ruled out by VAR.

The goal marks the Portuguese's third in three league games on Merseyside.

Mo Salah also scored for the champions from the penalty spot.

Manager Jurgen Klopp will be relieved by the performance shown by Nat Phillips, who's also 23 years of age after he was awarded man of the match.

The England native centre-back filled in for the injured Fabinho after he picked up a knock in the Reds' win over FC Midtjylland during the week.

Speaking about Phillips at full-time Klopp was very impressed with him in his league debut.

“He’s a brilliant guy, smart, intelligent, everything.

"He’s not easy on the eye, he’s not Lionel Messi, but who cares? In the air, he’s a monster, he was incredible.

"For the first game, I think everyone can imagine how nervy that must be after a long wait.

"It’s a crazy story, three years ago he was on his way to America.

“Twelve Championship teams wanted him and to me it was clear he was going, and I was fine with that. It didn’t work out for whatever reason, and it’s great.

"Tonight he was spot on, he helped the team incredibly.”

Meanwhile, speaking about Jota, the German boss said,

“We fought really hard to sign him. We didn’t need to convince him too much, but we had to fight for it. He’s an exceptional talent.

“He has the speed, physicality, technique, he’s both-footed. He’s much better than I thought he would be and that’s really impressive.”

On the overall performance, Klopp was happy with the win in unusual circumstances.

“The world is in a difficult place and we are happy to be allowed to play football.

"So we have to try everything to win football games. It’s not about shining, or whatever, it’s about hard work. That was absolutely necessary against this opponent.

“It’s not about the simple stuff because they are too good for that – you need to be cheeky, tricky as well, and we were.”

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Jurgen Klopp Liverpool FC Premier League