Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has held his hands up and accepted responsibility for almost letting his side’s win at Arsenal slip away.
The visitors went 4-1 up in the second half with just over half-an-hour to play, with Klopp seen celebrating his side’s fourth goal by giving goalscorer Sadio Mane a piggyback.
However, Arsenal launched a comeback almost immediately and reduced their deficit to 4-3, and although Liverpool held on for the victory, Klopp was keen to own up to his mistake as he conceded that he was to blame for the team losing their focus.
“OK, the Premier League has started, nothing is sure until the final whistle,” Klopp told Sky Sports in his post-game interview. “I have a big, big part in the excitement of the last half an hour because it is not allowed to celebrate a fourth goal when there’s still 35 minutes to go.
“I knew in the moment, but it was too late I had Sadio on my back and in this moment we switched off the machine for a second. It was so intense, it was so wrong, it was the first game.
“In this moment, Arsenal were not in a good way and we opened the match for them again. Of course it makes not too much sense.”
Despite the fact that the Gunners took the lead, Liverpool slowly began to settle into their rhythm and played some impressive attacking football that would have left their coach pleased with the overall performance.
Naturally, things must improve from a defensive perspective, but ultimately the three points were key on such a difficult away trip for the first game of the season, but Klopp will undoubtedly be looking to tone down the celebrations moving forward.
Liverpool travel to Burnley on Saturday, and will have to wait until September 10 for their first home game of the campaign when they take on Leicester City.