Klopp: We were too desperate
hmanager says team paid for overcommitting in attack hdefeat will strengthen calls for transfer window signings
Jurgen Klopp claimed Liverpool paid the price for their desperation to get back to winning ways but insisted there was no crisis of confidence at the club after Manchester United sent their bitter rivals crashing out of the FA Cup.
A stunning 78th-minute free-kick from Bruno Fernandes earned United a dramatic 3-2 win on an action-packed night at Old Trafford to deepen Klopp’s gloom.
Three days after losing at Anfield for the first time in the Premier
League for almost four years, 1-0 against Burnley, Liverpool tasted defeat again and have now won just once in their past seven matches in all competitions.
Klopp was pleased to see the champions back among the goals after they had failed to score in their previous four top-flight outings but he felt his team overcommitted in their attacking play and were left to count the cost.
Liverpool had led through Mohamed Salah but United capitalised on defensive errors to hit back with goals from Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford before Salah equalised, only for Fernandes to win it late on.
“There was a lot of good things and some mistakes around the goals. If you want to win here you have to be absolutely top and we were not,” Klopp said.
“For the first goal we had no protection – we wanted it too much. Things like this should not happen. We had too many players in a receiving position. We can take things out of this game. It’s good for Mo Salah, good for the confidence. It was a tough game. We want it hard but it was not enough.
“I saw the boys really, really wanted it. We had problems on the counter-attack, it was intense, but there were positives.
“Of course, we take from it that we scored two and we had other situations where we created well but they scored three. There were obvious mistakes around the goals. If you are in a situation you don’t like, you take steps to get out of it.”
With Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez long-term absentees and Joel Matip left out of the squad as a precaution because Klopp is eager to protect the defender’s fitness, the Liverpool manager handed 19-yearold Rhys Williams only his seventh start for the club alongside midfielder Fabinho in central defence and the pair endured a difficult time.
The result is only likely to intensify calls for Liverpool to strengthen at the back before the close of the transfer window on Feb 1 but Klopp said it was important the squad stuck together.
“Don’t worry about us, as a group we are really together and we have
to solve it together,” he said. “We are just in this moment and we try to win football games again.
“Tonight, I didn’t see any problems with confidence. If you don’t score for a while it’s not good for your confidence, but it’s all about how you deal with it.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the United manager, felt his side proved they could match the best teams in playing terms, with the only sour note being a suspected knee injury to Rashford that will require a scan today.
“For us, it’s a good feeling, to play on our terms,” said Solskjaer, who revealed that Fernandes had spent extra time practising free-kicks in the lead-up to the game.
“We have had some good results over a few years, whether we’ve gone with a diamond or 3-5-2, different systems to nullify the opponents. But to win today with a positive selection and the way we see our team, that’s a statement to ourselves. That’s a confidence boost that we can match the best with our style of football.”
United had come from behind to beat Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round en route to winning the Treble in 1998-99, when Solskjaer was a player, but he said he wanted to see how his players reacted against Sheffield United on Wednesday before he could say if real momentum was building.
“I want to see the reaction, how we now mentally go again against Sheffield United, that’s the challenge now,” he said.
“We’ve beaten Liverpool, everyone is elated, very high and they should be. But tomorrow morning I want to see players who think about Wednesday, not today. So I will answer you [that question] on Wednesday.”