Klopp salutes Liverpool's new defensive partnership

The Reds boss gave his verdict on his new defensive duo after keeping another clean sheet in the victory over Wolves.

Jurgen Klopp praised the growing partnership of Nat Phillips and Ozan Kabak following Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Wolves at Molineux.

The center-backs kept a second consecutive clean sheet on Monday night to help Liverpool bag a hard-fought victory in West Midlands. The result moved the club up to sixth-place in the Premier League. And with Chelsea only four points above in the final top-four spot, Klopp’s men still have everything to play for.

For the Reds coach, though, Phillips and Kabak’s performances were a highlight. After trying 20 different center-back pairings for his injury-hit backline, he appears set to settle on the young duo for now.

“They have played now the second game in a row together and did really well,” said Klopp in his post-match conference at Molineux.

“You can imagine that the Leipzig game was difficult, but tonight was difficult for completely different reasons. The speed of Adama Traore is pretty much undefendable at times.”

Phillips, in particular, impressed in the air, while Kabak gave one of his most convincing performances since he joined Liverpool on loan from Schalke in January.

Diogo Jota’s goal on the stroke of half-time was enough to seal all three points for Liverpool, who had a late Mohamed Salah effort ruled out for offside.

“I didn’t like the style of our game too much in the beginning,” Klopp added.

“We were not active enough and with that pass in behind all the time. It was clear [that it was] offside, but because the rules say ‘let it run’ then that had an impact on our last line for a few minutes.

“So we had to get settled again and they did. From that moment on, I really, really liked it a lot.

“It was a massive task from a concentration point of view, and they did really well. I am really happy.”