Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp refuses to park the bus
The Liverpool boss insisted he could never send out his team to play with the same cautious approach as Jose Mourinho did in this bore-draw.
And in the final analysis, that’s probably why Manchester United are more likely to be serious title challengers to favourites Manchester City this season than Liverpool.
United may have gone into the game in free-scoring mood but the ever-pragmatic Mourinho reverted to type and parked the bus to ensure he got a point.
While Pep Guardiola’s City cavaliers went into seventh heaven against Stoke later in the day, United had only one chance, drew a blank for the first time this season, and ensured the latest battle at Anfield between English football’s two most successful teams ended just like the last one – in a goal-less stalemate.
With the calibre of players he has at his disposal as well as the Red Devils’ traditions for attacking football, Mourinho knows his tactics will be criticised and Klopp, for one, struggled to contain his frustration.
“Jose obviously did what he thinks is right, or what he wants to do, and that is okay,” he said. “It doesn’t make life easier for us but I can’t moan and say, ‘Come on, open up a little bit’. That’s not how it is.
Jose obviously did what he thinks is right, or what he wants to do, and that is okay
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp
“They want to win the league but I am sure we couldn’t play like this at Liverpool after 125 (sic) years without the title. We cannot sit back and say, ‘Let’s wait’ – that is not possible.
“Would you send out a team to play like United? No comment. You would make unbelievable stories if I answered. I don’t know how many games I’ve had [as a manager] but watch them all and you tell me.
“People around the stadium saw a game they wanted to see – but they all had Liverpool shirts on. They wanted a goal too, and we didn’t score so that’s not perfect. But the rest? They saw that we threw all we had on the pitch.
“A lot of teams change their style when we play them. It’s not like we can say that’s unfair and ask the Premier League to do something. We take it like it is.”
Phil Jones, who was outstanding again in United’s defence, accepted they had done a job on Liverpool, but bought into his manager’s pragmatism by looking at the big picture to suggest the real value of the result will come on judgment day in May.
“Let people criticise the performance,” said Jones. “We’ll see where we are at the end of the season.
Mourinho: Liverpool's midfield was stronger than Man United's
“We did do a job on them. They’ve had a chance, we had a good chance, probably a draw was a fair result. Every time you come to Anfield you get a cagey game like that so we all expected it.
“We would have liked to have got three points but Anfield is a difficult place to come and if you can’t win the game you’ve got to make sure you can’t lose it.”
Gary Neville is not alone in thinking that his former club will have to be more expansive than this in away games against the bigger clubs if they are to recapture the title.
David De Gea produced his usual heroics, making an instinctive save with an outstretched leg to block Joel Matip’s close-range effort. Mo Salah and Emre Can missed great chances while Liverpool should have had a penalty when Philippe Coutinho was sent tumbling by Ander Herrera.
United’s one chance fell to Romelu Lukaku – who was otherwise starved of service and support – but he fired it too close to Simon Mignolet as his nine-game scoring streak for club and country came to an end.
Lukaku is aware of his ‘flat-track bully’ tag but insists the goals will come against the bigger teams now he is at United, a club where he knows he will always be under close scrutiny than other strikers.
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“I have heard that [criticism] from people but now I am in a team where we want to win every game that situation will change,” he said. “People will always say this but my record in the Premier League is pretty good.
“Every time I miss, people overplay it but a lot of strikers in the League miss bigger chances than me. But with me it’s always, ‘Rom did this, Rom did that’. I accept that as a matter of fact. I’m relaxed.”
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Mignolet 6; Gomez 6, Matip 7, Lovren 6, Moreno 6; Wijnaldum 6, Henderson 6, Can 7; Salah 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 78, 6), Firmino 6 (Solanke 87), Coutinho 7 (Sturridge 78, 5). NEXT UP: Maribor (a) tomorrow, CL.
MAN UTD (4-2-3-1): De Gea 7; Valencia 6, Jones 8, Smalling 6, Darmian 6; Herrera 6, Matic 7; Young 6 (Lindelof 90), Mkhitaryan 5 (Lingard 63, 5), Martial 6 (Rashford 65, 5); Lukaku 5. Booked: Smalling, Young. NEXT UP: Benfica (a) Wed, CL.
