Manchester United produced an outstanding display to defeat Liverpool 2-1 and give manager Erik ten Hag his first Premier League victory at a thunderous Old Trafford.
Ten Hag took the bold decision to drop captain Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo. And his strategy was rewarded with a performance that lifted the mood of crisis around Manchester United and leave Liverpool still searching for a first win of the season.
Mohamed Salah’s 81st-minute goal wasn’t enough to save the injury-ravaged Reds were beaten from defeat Monday night. And Jurgen Klopp admits he is “concerned” by his team’s situation after their winless start to the Premier League season continued in dismal fashion.
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Liverpool are already seven points off the Premier League lead having only drawn their opening two games, and the Reds boss said: “We are in a tricky situation injury-wise, we got through the week with 14, 15 senior players available and now have to make sure they don’t get injured.
“I am concerned about our situation. But that is how it is. We prepare for Bournemouth and Newcastle now.”
“We should have won this game. I know it sounds ridiculous. But that is how I saw it.
“My emotions? We lost, which says everything about my emotions. Very disappointed about the result, that’s it.” Klopp added.
Klopp admitted he was disappointed by his team’s inability to cope with the expected high-intensity start from United.
“If you saw both games, the differences couldn’t be bigger,” he said. “It was a game which was 100% clear what United would do.
“That’s how they started the game. Were they more aggressive than us in the beginning? Probably yes. It was exactly the game United wanted. We can say that’s our fault. But it was wild, up and down.
“They hit the post and then scored the goal. Then we took over more or less and until the final pass or the final decision, we played like we should have played.
“Against so many legs in defence it’s not easy to create chances every 20 seconds. But we had a lot of moments in the box. We were unlucky off the set-piece. I’m not sure how the ball didn’t go in. If we scored there… but we didn’t.
“When we scored our goal, which I think we absolutely deserved, it was slightly late. We had moments before where De Gea made top saves, with blocks and these kind of things. But these are the facts. We lost 2-1 because time ran out, because the watch ran down not because of football, but because of different situations.” Explained the Reds’ manager.