Mohamed Salah hit the post deep into stoppage time of an intense Goodison Park clash between Everton and Liverpool that featured plenty of chances at both ends but no goals.
Conor Coady saw a 69th-minute goal disallowed for offside following a VAR review, while Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Tom Davies all struck the woodwork in the first half.
Meanwhile, Alisson Becker and Jordan Pickford each made vital saves to ensure the points were shared.
Read a summary of Klopp’s post-match press conference below…
On his thoughts on the game…
Rule number one: if you cannot win the derby, don’t lose it. We could have won it today but we could have lost it in a few moments as well. If you count the amount of chances we had and the amount of chances they had we would probably have been the deserved winner. I think that we had the last chance, which was a massive one, we could have won it then absolutely. Ali had to make two incredible saves and they scored a goal which was disallowed for a small offside, but obviously offside. So, [it was] intense like always and we were ready to fight after a super intense game on Wednesday, we tried to fight. Especially then of course in the second half it looked like an end-to-end game because after our set-pieces we didn’t defend the second balls they had particularly well. We had good set-pieces but we didn’t finish it off or when we got another one we were slightly too open and they used that in these moments pretty well. Apart from that they didn’t cause us a lot of problems or whatever, but we had to dig in deep obviously [and] that’s what we did.
On whether Salah is spending more time out wide this season…
No, it’s not more than other seasons or whatever, I’m not sure what you see there. We want to have Mo there in this position but we want to have Mo, and we always had him, more often in central positions as well. Today especially we wanted to use the boys a bit more centrally, but we didn’t have a lot of time to train obviously. Actually we only recovered, we spoke a lot about it, I’m not sure I was clear enough in the first half what we wanted. In the moments when we played, when Mo dropped or when Lucho dropped after two or three passes they were completely free in between the lines because Darwin kept the last line back with his pure presence and they like to drop pretty early. But we didn’t do that often enough, you are right. I don’t think in the season he is too often wide, maybe today in a few moments yes. But he could have scored again in the last minute pretty much.
On whether the decision to substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold was tactical and whether he is managing the right-back’s minutes…
We have to [manage his minutes], where can we change in the moment with the players coming in and coming back? So, Arthur is here and very good and very important for us but he didn’t play football for a long, long time and yesterday played a rondo with us. We thought actually until last night that he would not be available, he was in the squad but it was not the plan to bring him on so who do we then have on the bench? Yes, Millie can play in midfield and both full-back positions so we just thought again, like in the last game, it makes sense to bring in fresh legs there. That’s why we decided it like this. Trent is playing all the time, Robbo is playing all the time and from time to time, like we have in the moment, we have alternatives there so that’s why we have to use them. That’s why we have to use them to bring fresh energy on the pitch, pretty much. It’s nothing to do with his performance, even when I know Trent can play better than today definitely but it’s nothing to do with that. It’s just we have to get through this period, how it is, because, yes, players are coming back but they have to be reintegrated. We cannot just bring them back to play 90 minutes or whatever, that’s just not possible. That’s why we need to have a look where we can do the changes and give the game a new dynamic again.
On whether Nunez missing opportunities to win the game is ‘an issue’…
No. He had the start-stop integration, that’s how it is. We play all the time, that means we cannot train constantly, he was suspended in a week when we had two or three normal-ish sessions, the rest were individual when he had to do a bit more. In the sessions when we had them he looked really good but he still has to be integrated, that’s completely normal. So the way we played, it’s not that we created… he had the chance where we passed the ball back and it was an open goal and Pickford was still there but I know that he will score in these moments in the future, that is clear. But it was super intense for him today, super. We had to make the decision; Bobby was injured before, now played two or three games really, really good. Wednesday-Saturday, traditionally difficult fixtures and that’s why we decided to let Darwin start and he came through 80 minutes. No it is not a concern or whatever, it is just the situation, it is all fine for the moment in that perspective.
If we would have played our absolutely best football game ever on Wednesday night, and maybe we did that once or twice before a derby, we still arrive here and it is this kind of game. Nobody should now be too surprised. Last year it looked slightly different because we scored in the right moments and we didn’t do that today, that’s why they could stay in the game and they are a different team than last year as well. The idea they have is obviously not a bad one: they defend pretty well and then the counter-attacks are a real threat and that’s it. There are not a lot of derbies that will be in my book of games that I will watch back again in the future, one or two maybe but all the others not because it’s never really outstanding football. It’s a big fight, which everybody expects from both teams. We fought, we didn’t play always extremely well but created enough, had top chances but didn’t use them and then you cannot score. But how I said, if you can’t win the derby, don’t lose it.