Jurgen Klopp called Liverpool’s 2-0 win at Newcastle United a “huge achievement” but he was concerned about Darwin Nunez’s shoulder injury.
The Uruguayan striker gave Liverpool the lead at St James’ Park after 10 minutes, Cody Gakpo doubling the lead shortly after.
Nick Pope’s red card in the 22nd minute for handling the ball outside his own penalty area to deny Mohamed Salah a run on goal effectively ended the game, although Newcastle were still able to create some chances to keep honest guests.
Speaking to Sky Sports after his side’s second league win in six days, Klopp said: “Huge result, clean sheet, two wonderful goals and obviously room for improvement.
“Great goals, probably even the red card would have been a great goal. If Pope didn’t get his hands on it, Mo would probably have scored. I would have taken that [via the red card] to be honest.
“We didn’t react very well against 10 men, at that time we still had momentum and it was tough to come back and Newcastle had nothing to lose, we saw that.
“The best team, the best character, they threw everything on the pitch and we gave them too many set pieces and set pieces, it doesn’t matter how many players you have on the pitch.
“If we had scored a third goal it would have been, but we didn’t get there so it was exciting until the end.”
Nunez was substituted on the hour mark after a clash with Kieran Trippier saw him clutch his shoulder and potentially miss Tuesday’s Champions League round of 16 first leg against Real Madrid. “The most negative thing was that Darwin had to leave,” Klopp said. “He would have jumped anyway, but he had something on his shoulder, so we’ll have to see how bad it is, hopefully not too much.”
The victory puts Liverpool in eighth place in the Premier League, just six points behind fourth-placed Newcastle, and Klopp hopes the victory will remind the Reds of what they are capable of after also beating their rivals this week against Everton.
“You need results. That’s how it is,” he continued. “Guys also need to feel that if you do this and you have a good chance of being on the safe side of the outcome… In the end, I’m really happy that we crossed the finish line because so many things happened to us this season, nothing really happened this time.
“We weren’t perfect but we were good enough to win the game and we did.”