The visitors fell 2-0 behind in the opening 24 minutes at Old Trafford as Marcus Rashford found the net twice in quick succession to put the home side in control.
Klopp’s men gradually established a foothold in the game and halved their arrears through an Eric Bailly own goal midway through the second half – but could not produce an equaliser.
After the final whistle, the manager reflected on the period which proved decisive, the impact of the result on the top-four battle and more.
Read on for a summary of his assessment…
On whether the result was ‘deserved’…
When the other team scores twice and you score once then this is the result. I think if in the end it was a draw, nobody could have a big argument about that. In the situations around the two goals, it was not like it should be – you cannot leave a player alone. With Romelu Lukaku, he can win the headers sometimes – we did it afterwards [won the headers], but in these two situations we didn’t. You need to be there, everyone knows that and we trained that of course, around second balls where we had to be – but we were not there. They scored twice and that has a big influence on different things in the game – one team gets a big boost, the other one a big blow.
We saw that for a few minutes but then we came back minute by minute in the game, put them under pressure, had good moments, good passes in the box, Robbo [getting to the] touchline, set-pieces were pretty much all good, we had headers and didn’t use them. Second half, we continued to chase the game. We did that and then we scored the goal and it should have been a penalty around Fellaini’s situation with Sadio – it was the best piece of football in the whole game, a little one-two between the two and then [Mane] would have been completely free in the box. You need that, we didn’t have it and now lost 2-1. You can say we deserved it because we were not good around the two situations, but I think in a lot of other moments we caused United a lot of problems. We needed more luck in these situations, so that’s the result which we have to take.
On the approaches of both teams…
I said before the game, it’s all about winning – not about [style]. That’s your discussion, not mine. [Manchester] City won here with two set-pieces – nobody creates against Manchester United 10 or 15 100 per cent chances, no-brainers. We had a few [chances]. It was not that United’s style won or that our style lost. The two situations had absolutely nothing to do with style. For all of us, it’s the same – it’s the same around second balls and you have to do what you have to do. If you go for it, the rest has to protect the situation, win the ball and go and play football. We didn’t do that, that’s our mistake. It was nothing to do with the system.
On whether he was frustrated with the lack of chances…
How can I be frustrated if we play against a world-class team in Manchester United and don’t create a lot of chances? It is possible to win here 1-0; if you score early you can win here 2-0, but to have the third and the fourth opportunities will not really happen because they don’t change. And they do it on the highest level. That’s the thing. We had enough chances to win but it’s not allowed to concede. I’m not frustrated that we didn’t create more. If you are 2-0 down, you are not at your best and it’s like getting a knock – you are a little bit dizzy and you still have to play football while the whole world is watching. Everything can happen if you are 2-0 down that early, a third or fourth – then it’s a disaster. We made not the best of it but we made something of it.
We have to defend these two situations better as a team, from all areas, that’s it. Then you have opportunities, even against a deep-defending side. The problem is not that we didn’t create enough. It is not allowed to concede these kinds of goals. If you do, you have to react and that’s what we did. If you have to react at Manchester United, you need a little bit of luck. We have to continue working and turn the fortune a little bit more on our side. In these decisive moments, when it’s not in our hands and we did what we do and somebody else has to decide, so far it was not really often that the help came.
On the battle for second place…
We won’t stop. Of course it matters for us. But we cannot wish and say, ‘come on, give us second place’. We need to win football games to do it. Today we lost and now it’s five points. I think they all play against each other. It doesn’t look like Manchester United will from now on win all the games 5-0, maybe they’ll lose a game. We have to win our games. We play against Watford in the next game and we have to win that. Are we under pressure? We are under pressure when we’re five points clear, when we are two points behind; we are constantly under pressure, that’s our life. We have to win football games.
On criticism of Trent Alexander-Arnold for the first goal…
Rashford is coming at 100 miles an hour in that situation. Trent makes this move, he cuts back and there needed to be another player. That’s how it is. Could Trent have done better? Probably. But could he have sorted the situation alone? Rather not – there needed to be a second player. Rashford makes one move inside and shoots immediately. You don’t get a second chance alone. It was the right distance, he made the cutback early enough and it was a brilliant goal from Rashford.