The German manager insists that he made the right call in leaving his forward out of the action during the reverse in Castellon, and believes he is still getting back to his best
Jurgen Klopp has no regrets about leaving striker Daniel Sturridge out of Liverpool's Europa League semi-final defeat to Villarreal on Thursday and insists he would make the same decision again.
Despite scoring in his three successive appearances prior to the 1-0 first-leg loss at El Madrigal, Sturridge found himself on the bench in Spain and was an unused substitute.
Klopp admitted the decision was taken in expectation of a more offensive approach from Villarreal and that defeat naturally brings questions over his selection.
However, the German insisted he felt he was making the right choice at the time.
"I was always thinking more about the strengths of a player, rather than the weaknesses. [On Thursday] I didn't think about his weaknesses, we just had to find a line-up which knows how to defend against a side like Villarreal without any training time together," said the Liverpool boss, whose side face Swansea City in the Premier League on Sunday.
"After the game everybody was asking me if I had the same feeling, about whether Villarreal were pleased with a draw. If you watch a few more Villarreal games you will see that usually they play completely differently – usually they are much more dominant.
"You can't be fourth in the Spanish league without being a really good side that plays football – it's not all about the counter-attack. There were a few points in the game when you could see this and we had to defend and find stability.
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