KLOPP FURY AS LIVERPOOL HELD BY STOIC UNITED
Angry Anfield boss says opening goal should not have stood as he hits out at Ole’s tactics despite Lallana’s late leveller
JURGEN KLOPP criticised VAR and Manchester United’s defensive tactics after Liverpool’s late equaliser salvaged their unbeaten start to the season.
The Anfield boss was angry that Marcus Rashford’s goal was allowed to stand after referee Martin Atkinson refused to give Liverpool a foul for Victor Lindelof’s challenge on Divock Origi in the build-up.
VAR backed Atkinson’s decision and was then used to rule out Sadio Mane’s effort before half-time for handball when he tangled with Lindelof before scoring. Even though substitute Adam Lallana equalised five minutes from the end, Klopp couldn’t hide his frustration.
‘I was 100-per-cent sure VAR would overrule it,’ said the Liverpool boss. ‘But now we see the problem. The ref let the game run because he has VAR, but VAR then says it was not clear, so they don’t overrule it. That doesn’t make sense.
‘It’s just, wow. I saw it was a foul and nothing else. Mr Atkinson I’m sure would have whistled if there was no VAR involved, but now we have somebody else who can make the decision. But somebody else is not making the decision.
‘Like the penalty Manchester City did not get yesterday (against Crystal Palace). Come on, that is 100 per cent a penalty. Not clear enough to overrule? They sit in the studio, they see it. Just take it away.
‘Pretty much everything went against us. Like our goal, eh? I heard that both players were there with the hand, but the other one is first, then it should have been allowed.’
However, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insisted it was not a foul by Lindelof and it was right to allow the goal.
‘No chance, we’re not playing basketball,’ said Solskjaer. ‘He touched him but it’s not a clear-and-obvious error.
‘I think it was a slight touch but it’s still a man’s game, with tackles allowed. That (the handball) was a clear one from Mane. We were on the right end of the VAR decisions.’
Klopp was also unhappy over United’s tactics as Solskjaer played with three at the back and looked to hit Liverpool on the break. United had 32.1-per-cent possession, their second lowest in a Premier League game at home since the 2003-04 season.
Klopp said: ‘They were set out to defend. We should have done better, but it’s the easy thing to do to set up like this. Man United pretty much set up like this. Everyone built it up like a mountain, but one team set out to defend and one team made the game.’
To be fair, it almost worked for United. Almost. Almost a victory. Almost the best performance of Solskjaer’s reign. Almost better than last season at Paris Saint-Germain.
Five minutes of normal time were left when Liverpool left-back Andrew Robertson received the ball down his side. All afternoon, United had kept one of their opponents’ most dangerous attacking outlets pinned in his own half. All afternoon, they kept Liverpool at bay.
But, at the death, United faltered. The Scotland skipper’s low cross was decent but beat three United defenders to reach its target. Nobody took responsibility and when the ball found Lallana on his own at the far post, the Liverpool substitute buried it in the corner.
So a result to change the direction of a season and to change the mood of a football club instead became another illustration of United’s limitations. Solskjaer’s team played well and for a long period were better than a strangely tepid, out of sorts Liverpool team.
But ultimately they didn’t see it through. In the second half, they contained Liverpool relatively comfortably but had almost no touches in their opponents’ penalty area.
The full-time statistics showed two shots on target, one was Marcus Rashford’s goal and the other was a low 20-yard shot from Scott McTominay that Alisson knelt to save comfortably.
Had United been a little more potent with the ball, they would have won. Liverpool’s strangely weak showing coupled with United’s intensity and hard work — and a 3-5-2 formation that kept Robertson and right-back Trent Alexander Arnold pinned in deep positions — gave the home team an ascendancy in the first half that they could never have dreamed of.
But, ultimately, it was Liverpool who went home feeling that momentum remains with them, despite the end of a long winning run. Liverpool know they can and will play better. United may look ahead to visits to Belgrade and Norwich this week and worry what will happen if either side has the temerity to score.
United’s goal was controversial and, for a long time, looked as though it would prove to be the story of the day. McTominay fed Daniel James down the right in the 36th minute and when he crossed beautifully, Rashford poked the ball in from six yards.
It was a classic United counter-attack. At least it was until it became apparent that it had started with what looked like a foul. As the VAR officials examined what appeared to be a kick to the back of Origi’s calf by Lindelof before McTominay picked up possession, it seemed possible the goal would not stand. But the contact was not deemed significant enough and, after a short delay, United were ahead.
So VAR continues to confuse us all and this time United were on the right end of it as they were when Mane beat David de Gea at the Stretford End just before half-time only to be denied when the VAR officials spotted a handball.
That was the right call and Klopp sprinted to the tunnel at the break with rage in his soul and new plans to draw up.
Liverpool, missing Mo Salah and therefore short of craft, played with Origi through the middle in the second half and when that didn’t work, the Belgian was replaced by Alex Oxlade Chamberlain. Lallana was introduced with 19 minutes left — another influential use of substitutes by Klopp.
Slowly Liverpool improved but it was marginal. United held firm and occasionally broke from deep. Rashford drove one shot narrowly wide from 18 yards and was terrific all afternoon. There were glimpses here of what the United forward can do when he feels confident enough to run directly at opponents.
Unusually, Klopp’s team had themselves only made one good chance all day — Roberto Firmin no shooting weakly at De
Gea shortly before Rashford’s goal — and were simply not good enough for huge stretches of the game. Salah’s absence really should not hinder them like it did here, nor should an opponent’s desire to sit deep frustrate them.
At times — as strange as it sounds when discussing such a free-scoring team — Liverpool look short of a safebreaker.
Eventually it was not so much pressure that told as much as it was time. United’s levels of concentration had been terrific but they failed them at the end and were left hanging on.
Ultimately a relatively positive afternoon yielded just a point and Manchester United are 13th in the Premier League.