Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has defended his team selection following his side's 1-1 draw with Everton at Anfield this afternoon.
Klopp opted to leave Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino on the bench for the first Merseyside derby of the season, despite the Brazilian pair having scored four of their seven goals against Spartak Moscow in midweek - including a first career hat-trick for Coutinho.
The German's latest rotation policy did not result in victory as his side were held to a point by their local rivals, although Klopp is adamant that it was still the correct decision.
"I thought before the game, yes. After the game? Still yes, even when the result didn't show it. We have done it the last six or seven weeks like this, I said it here already and to the boys already, we can change as much as we want if we keep winning, but when we don't win then I take the blame," he told reporters.
"I have no problem with that. The boys who came in were fresh, did a brilliant job, they played and worked hard. My players, if they work hard and that's not enough then they have to be brilliant in other areas. What do we say about Everton players tonight? They worked hard but nobody was brilliant. That's how it is. It's a derby.
"We accept it was a fight. You can't go in there and play a bit to the left and the right. You need to be ready for each challenge and we were ready for each challenge. We tried everything, we could have scored (more), we had clear chances, half-chances, everything you need but we didn't use it. That's how it is and we know that. But it was always clear a day like this can happen. We wanted to win 1-0 and we didn't.
"They played good. Can they play better? Yes. But it's an intense time. Ask everybody who played in midweek, whether they had a final [qualifier] or no final, it is intense. That's why we made changes, because we thought we needed fresh legs, we could have won it, we didn't, and as I said, blame me."
Liverpool are now unbeaten in 10 matches across all competitions, but the result saw them miss the chance to climb up to third in the Premier League table.
Barney Corkhill
