Klopp: “United will bounce back from this difficult situation”
Jurgen Klopp reflected on an exuberant night at Anfield in which Liverpool went top of the table after putting four goals past a Manchester United side that offered little resistance.
Jürgen Klopp reflected on an exuberant night of football at Anfield in which his Liverpool side hammered Manchester United 4-0 to reclaim top spot in the Premier League table - if only until after Manchester City’s meeting with Brighton on Wednesday. It was a masterclass from the hosts, who were ahead by the fifth minute and looked absolutely ruthless against Ralf Rangnick’s United.
Klopp was happy with most of what he saw, apart from a bright spell from United at the start of the second half. He told reporters afterwards, “Top level, obviously, very important. We started the game and finished the game extremely well off. In between, we had a spell where we had to adjust to the different high press system, line-up organisation of the opponent. But it’s really difficult, we were 2-0 up and I have seen so many football games where one team is clearly better - and we were clearly better in the first first half, but keeping concentration levels in very important. But a top class performance, absolutely”.
“Our counter-press was a completely different level” - Klopp
The stats painted a very clear picture of how it all unfolded out on the pitch - an incredible 879 passes completed by Liverpool during the 90 minutes, with Thiago pulling the strings in the centre of midfield. “Thiago played a good game. With his quality, with quality always comes responsibility - if you are good, you have to play good as well, and that’s what he did tonight - again. From a football point of view, I have nothing to moan about. It was the perfect night for us, we don’t take these kind of things for granted,” he added.
The result means that Liverpool have beaten United home and away this season, scoring nine against them without reply - a difference which hasn’t been seen since the 1895/6 season when the Reds beat their rivals 7-1 at Anfield and 2-5 at Bank Street. Not that Klopp is interested in such stats - he is sure that United will get out of their rut and competing as they always have. “I’m not here to humiliate opponents, or whatever. There is absolutely no reason for us to do that. We did what we had to do and we won the games and that’s how it is. United is obviously in a difficult situation. Look at the line-up tonight - they played without their central midfielders and I think McTominay was only here to show up, I don’t think he was ready probably. When you are in a difficult situation, very often in life, you get another knock. And that’s what United got even before the game. In the game, Pogba had to go off - and in a fixture like this, it’s not easy to play against us, that’s how it is. I’m really not interested (in the 9-0 combined scores), that’s something for the supporters if they want to celebrate that, they can, but it’s not for me. We wanted the three points and if we had won 1-0, I would feel exactly the same,” Klopp continued. “I know it won’t last forever. They will strike back, they will be there again. United as a clubs is too powerful. But tonight, we were too good for them, that’s the truth”.