After Liverpool’s goalless draw against Man United, Jurgen Klopp insisted there were still “a lot of positives” and gave an update on Ryan Gravenberch‘s injury.
Here are five key points from the manager’s post-match press conference…
“A lot of positives”
It might not be the first thing on supporters’ minds, but Klopp still saw the better parts of Liverpool’s performance.
He noted: “The start of the game was the best we have this season; the counter-pressing was the best we have this season; the intensity was outstanding, and the amount of finishes is outstanding.
“But when you have this amount of finishes. you should have a few more on target.”
You can say that again, Jurgen.
Gravenberch injury update
Ryan Gravenberch was forced off after an hour, adding to Liverpool’s woes.
Klopp said: “He (Gravenberch) told me directly after the game, it got worse during the game. It’s not a ‘bam’, he felt a little bit and it didn’t show immediately…
“I hope it’s not that serious but we have, in the next 10 days, three more games, so I don’t know if he will be part of them or one of them.”
Those three fixtures Klopp is referring to are West Ham (H) in the League Cup, Arsenal (H) and Burnley (A).
With Alexis Mac Allister also still out, Gravenberch joins Thiago and Stefan Bajcetic, too, on the midfielders absentee list.
Tactical changes
It was clear Liverpool lacked a cutting edge in the final third, some of which was down to individuals’ decision-making.
“We tried pretty much everything; changed system, brought fresh players,” Klopp said on the match.
“Everything could have worked out if we made just this one better decision. It was really unlucky, the Trent (Alexander-Arnold) finish I would say.”
Klopp also explained how Liverpool “disorganised” Man United‘s defence “quite frequently.
“If a team defends like that, there’s always a free player – we didn’t see that. That’s why we drew the game.”
Szoboszlai was “exceptional” – really?
Dominik Szoboszlai was withdrawn 61 minutes in, and his generally poor performance stuck to the pattern of recent games.
Klopp disagreed with that analysis, though, saying: “He was exceptional today in a lot of situations in the game but then we lost a couple of balls – that had nothing to do with the substitution or whatever.
“It’s just we had options to do and we wanted to change system.”
The Hungarian will know himself he isn’t quite at it, currently.
Liverpool were “ready to use” early goal
The Reds flew out of the blocks in the early stages and did threaten heavily at first.
Klopp subsequently revealed: “We score an early goal it would have been great, we were ready to use that. But we didn’t, then it becomes more and more intense, it was a really tough game.”
He went on to say: “They had their moments but not even close to what they could have had because of the counter press. I liked that a lot.”
The counter-press was generally very good, it’s just a shame the rest of Liverpool’s performance wasnt.
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