​Klopp blames 'tricky' pitch for tired Liverpool performance | OneFootball

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp felt the pitch had something to do with his team turning in an indifferent performance against Ajax in the UEFA Champions League.

While the Reds picked up a 1-0 win, they were somewhat fortuitous with the outcome.

Ajax had several chances, and a goal line clearance from Fabinho was needed to preserve the clean sheet at one stage.

"We were good enough to win the game, that's what you need," Klopp told BT Sport.

"I think both teams can play better football, it was pretty wild at moments. I think the pitch was really tricky, deep, muddy a little bit, both teams looked really exhausted pretty early.

"Three days ago it looked completely different, yesterday in training too but it was the same for Ajax too. They are where we are, early in the season, that cannot be the reason really.

"You need to score a goal, we did that, we didn't use our chances which is a bit of a shame, they had a big one with the post directly after half-time. When you're 1-0 up these things can happen but all over I am really fine with the game because it was not our sunny shine world-class football day, but in a tournament like the Champions League you need the result and we got it.

"It's a good example for how the boys played; it was not perfect but they fought like crazy, in that situation it helped massively, but apart from that, I really liked the fresh legs when we brought them on. The medical department told me Henderson could not play 90 minutes - okay, he had 45, and did really well."