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As super City close in on top spot, Klopp warns his champions
JURGEN KLOPP has told his Liverpool players to put their title aspirations on the backburner and concentrate on making sure they qualify for the Champions League.
Liverpool dropped to fourth in the table after a dour 0-0 draw with Manchester United at Anfield. They have taken just three points from a possible 12 and have not scored in the Premier League since December 27.
Klopp’s side were title favourites but he said: ‘In the season we came second with 97 points, I only started thinking about winning the title when it was clear we were in the Champions League.’
Manchester City, who have a game in hand on United, went second with a 4-0 win at home to Crystal Palace.
DO YOU know what this game needed? A bit of hugging. Maybe some cuddling. Some inappropriate physical conduct. Back-slapping, fist-bumping, even the odd smacker. God, it needed a goal. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said it was the best time to play Liverpool, but Manchester United did not make the timing count. Jurgen Klopp met Solskjaer’s comments with an arch ‘We’ll see’, yet Liverpool failed to deliver a goal for their third consecutive game in the Premier League, a run last replicated in March 2005.
They saw more of the ball but by the end it was United who looked likelier to score. Alisson made three superb second-half saves in the space of eight minutes to keep Liverpool in the game.
The champions, meanwhile, ended the match in third place, Leicester separating these clubs like a well-meaning mate, breaking up a fight in a pub car park.
And not much of a fight, either. This was one of those affairs in which both sides did more talking than scrapping. For all the skirmishes around penalties and influencing referees, the game was disappointing.
Liverpool’s best chance was a shot from Thiago Alcantara after 78 minutes that David de Gea turned round and Manchester United came to life late.
It cannot be easy for Alisson playing behind a defensive line without recognised centre-halves, but he rose to the occasion here, whether operating as a surrogate sweeper or a shot-stopper.
Both defences will be pleased with the clean sheet, but ultimately it was Alisson who stood most defiantly in United’s way.
The first of the three key saves, after 75 minutes, came when Luke Shaw ran an excellent overlap on the left and was set up by Marcus
Rashford. His cut-back cross found Bruno Fernandes but Alisson saved the shot from close range with his feet.
In the 83rd minute, he produced the save of the night. The ball fell to Paul Pogba, who had another good game and was ambitious and influential, but somehow Alisson kept his powerful shot out from a point-blank position.
From the resulting corner, he smothered Rashford as he was about to turn the ball goalwards.
He isn’t called on a whole lot, for obvious reasons, but there is no finer goalkeeper in the Premier League than Alisson on his game.
Yet one question remains. With such a height advantage over Liverpool’s makeshift centre-half pairing of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, why did United not try to make more of that?
Harry Maguire, Pogba, Rashford, Edinson Cavani, Anthony Martial — and Fernandes to provide the service. Anyone see a route to goal there? Yet United chose not to take it. They invariably played short from their six-yard box, eschewing opportunities to put Liverpool’s defence under pressure.
Late on, when they did play more directly, the odd mistake resulted, enabling Maguire to go up for the corner. Nobody wants United to play long ball, but attacking to an obvious strength surely isn’t a crime. Having said this, Liverpool defended superbly. Fabinho took one for the team, mind, in the 66th minute — tripping Cavani, who was sizing up a long-range shot as Alisson struggled to return to his goal-line after an upfield escapade.
There were periods when Liverpool threatened to seize control but they couldn’t find the cutting edge. Mainly, their chances fell to Roberto Firmino who is not always the most ruthless finisher.
In the 59th minute, he should have converted an Andrew Robertson cross at the far post and moments later his good work put in Mo Salah but the shot deflected wide.
Again, in the first half, there were spells when Liverpool were in charge, yet the front three are not currently the potent force of the last two seasons. Firmino fluffed his first chance after 17 minutes following a lovely move by Xherdan Shaqiri which found Sadio Mane.
Soon after, a powerful run by Robertson ended with a square pass to Shaqiri and a nearer miss. Finally, just before half time, Salah burst into the box, but Firmino took the ball off his toes. His shot was weak and posed no problem for De Gea.
By then, Manchester United had plainly declared the space behind Trent Alexander-Arnold to be their happy place and tried to venture into it as often as possible.
Cue big, booming balls from Pogba, not always accurate, with Martial and Rashford gamely chasing them down. It didn’t amount to much. Once, Alisson came haring off his line to thwart the danger but Rashford had strayed offside anyway.
It left United’s best early chance as a 33rd-minute free-kick after Shaqiri had brought down Shaw 30 yards from goal. Fred and Fernandes stood over it — come on, who was Fred kidding? — before Fernandes unleashed a classic shot. Bending, dipping, swerving but just off target.
Ultimately, it was one of those games that reveals the true worth of a crowd.
In normal times the fierce rivalry would have driven the mood of this match, ramped up its tension. Without the noise and thunder, this was two good teams going at each other, but to little effect.
Yet while United will be pleased with staying top, might this be considered a missed opportunity when we discover how the season pans out?
Solskjaer was right about Liverpool’s mojo, certainly as an attacking force. If it returns, they may be a different team altogether in the run-in.
United may one day have more regrets about this result than the thwarted champions.