Jurgen Klopp admits he needs "time to process" Crystal Palace defeat

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp appeared downbeat after his side's 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace left their Premier League title hopes hanging by a thread.

Speaking to reporters after Sunday's match at Anfield, Klopp expressed his frustration, acknowledging the team's failure to capitalise on opportunities despite what he deemed a "good game, without scoring".

"We stand, lost the game, feel really rubbish and need a bit of time to process that because it's the second home game in a row we lose and are not used to that," Klopp told Sky Sports.

Defeat to the Eagles comes hot on the heels of a disappointing 3-0 loss to Atalanta in the Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday, something which the manager believed may have played a role as Eberechi Eze's goal in the 14th minute compounded Liverpool's woes.

Wasted chances

Like against the Italian side earlier in the week, defeat to Oliver Glasner's side was a story of wasted opportunities for Liverpool.

Between the Atalanta and Palace defeats, the Reds racked up an expected goals (xG) total of nearly five goals. And yet, they didn’t score once.

In the first half, Wataru Endo hit the bar, while Luis Diaz somehow failed to convert his back-post volley (drawing a miraculous save from Dean Henderson).

In the second, Darwin Nunez hit the ball straight at the keeper when he had the whole goal to aim at, Diogo Jota had one off the line, Curtis Jones placed his shot wide in a one-on-one and Mohamed Salah had his close-range shot blocked on the line in stoppage time.

Jones's was widely highlighted, but Klopp argued: "We had bigger chances than Curtis' chance.

"[In the case of] the Darwin chance, that's how it is, he hits the ball full throttle. If he mishits it slightly there's no chance for the goalie, similar with Diogo I would say.

"Mo's chance, I don't know who it was maybe Mitchell who it hits more or less on the line. That's just horrendous."

With Liverpool now trailing both Manchester City and Arsenal in the race for the title, Klopp acknowledged his side needed to use this result as motivation.

"We have to see how we react, we will do that exactly but I can't stand here and say it is a starting point for us for the rest of the season. It doesn't feel like that, maybe tomorrow it will.”