Jürgen Klopp has described Steve Cook’s admission that Loris Karius was targeted by Bournemouth as “one of the worst things I ever heard in my life” and said it had left him desperate for a reunion with Eddie Howe’s side.

The Liverpool manager was magnanimous after last Sunday’s remarkable defeat at the Vitality Stadium, where his side led 3-1 in the 76th minute only to lose 4-3 in the 93rd, praising Howe’s tactics and Bournemouth’s clinical late flourish. But Klopp was infuriated by what he perceives as a lack of respect shown by Cook towards a fellow professional in an interview given the following day.

The Bournemouth defender levelled the scores at 3-3 and it was his shot that Karius spilled into the path of Nathan Aké for the late winner. Asked whether Bournemouth had targeted the 23-year-old goalkeeper as Liverpool’s weak link, Cook told TalkSport: “I’ve got to be honest, we did. We felt he was under a lot of pressure – obviously, playing for Liverpool you’ve got to be a very strong character. We did target him, we tried to pressure him and get as many shots at him as possible. Obviously, we didn’t get that many shots off in the game but we did target him as a weakness in the Liverpool side.”

That has prompted a furious response from Klopp, who has been forced on the defensive over his choice of the £4.7m summer signing from Mainz as first-choice goalkeeper ahead of Simon Mignolet. “Actually, that’s one of the worst things I ever heard in my life,” he said of Cook’s comments. “That the guy who won the game – I don’t know who it was – thinks he needs to say something like this after the game. I am really looking forward to playing Bournemouth again because of this.

“Win the game, have respect for the player of the other team and then [gestures to close his mouth]. I thought: ‘Really, what did I say?’ I don’t care what he thought, I don’t care what anyone said before the game. If they thought before the game that Loris Karius is a weakness then I don’t know which game they were looking at. The game before against Sunderland he saved our life in three or four situations. Maybe they watched games from Mainz.”

Karius was uncertain throughout what was only his ninth Premier League appearance for Liverpool and has analysed Bournemouth’s goals this week with his manager, who is expected to keep faith with the Germany Under-21 international against West Ham United on Sunday. “We spoke about it, we watched the goals, and not of course to say: ‘What did you do here? What did you do there?’” said Klopp.

He added: “You need players who fit the style. We are a footballing side and sometimes we use the goalkeeper for this. We need him to make quick decisions. Don’t think I’m pretty special in this – I think all coaches would look for the same. Of course, you don’t want to concede goals and that is all about the defending of the whole team.

“Sometimes you need the goalkeeper and he made a lot of good saves in the last few games. And then this not-so-good save in the last minute against Bournemouth. That didn’t feel too good but it is important for your development that when you have a situation like this that you feel the criticism – the right criticism, not the criticism from people who want to send you out of the country or something. We are quite cool in this situation so we were all responsible for this defeat.”

Klopp believes Liverpool “were too high with both full-backs” when they lost the ball in the buildup to Bournemouth’s second goal. “Obviously, we misjudged the situation,” he said. “Three-one up at Bournemouth is a wonderful result. You don’t need one attack more.” Asked whether the onus was on him as manager to get that instruction across to his players, Klopp said: “Yes, probably.”

The Liverpool manager confirmed he had no plans to send Joe Gomez on loan for the remainder of the season as part of the defender’s recovery from injury. The promising 19-year-old has not featured for Liverpool since rupturing a cruciate ligament on England Under-21 duty 15 months ago, with his rehabilitation hampered in the summer by an achilles problem.

Klopp said: “We have had a very good talk. What I think about Joe Gomez is he is an unbelievable talent. It’s a long injury and if we send him on loan, with his quality, a team will play him every game. That is not what he needs in the moment. Because he was long injured, he needs us to judge now to play, now to stop, rest, work on this, do this, do a little bit on this. He’s a boy for the future, 100%. Maybe he is an option for the first team, but maybe not for this season.”