- The manager claims that their dominant game’s draw was “our fault.”
- In the race for the Premier League title, Klopp anticipates “more twists.”
In a match that Liverpool “should have won,” Jürgen Klopp bemoaned his team’s draw with Manchester United and said he was prepared to back his team’s bitter rivals against Arsenal following their loss of the lead in the Premier League title contest.
Liverpool ended up in second place, trailing Mikel Arteta’s team on goal differential, following their 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, the site of Arsenal’s penultimate weekend match.
In a jab at United’s play and the errors made by his players, Klopp declared that Arsenal would triumph at Old Trafford if the home team performed that poorly once more.
Captain of Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk, said the draw felt like a loss. Despite dominating and having 28 shots, his team lost to Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo, who both scored goals from around 50 yards out, and Mohamed Salah’s late penalty to split the points. Luis Díaz had put his team ahead 1-0 at halftime.
Manchester City is trailing Arsenal and Liverpool by one point with seven games remaining. Questioned about whether he would support United against Arsenal, Klopp, whose team was eliminated from the FA Cup at Old Trafford last month, replied with the following statement.
“It would be great if we were still in the race. Nevertheless, Arsenal is a strong football team, and I am positive that Arsenal will win that match if United plays as they did today. We should have won both games after losing in the Cup, and we didn’t. I apologize sincerely for saying this. We are to blame for that.”
Despite Liverpool’s nine-point goal differential deficit to Arsenal’s, Klopp expressed his lack of concern about his team’s loss of leadership. “After 38 matchdays, it matters a lot,” Klopp remarked.
“People and those who support us will also tell us that we should improve our goal difference, but pursuing that would be the worst thing we could do. That does not happen by accident; you do not intentionally aim to score eight goals in a game, and yet it does.
“The reason we are in the race is because of who and how we are. That is perfectly acceptable to me. I knew it would be extremely difficult until the very end. At any rate, we were the best up until yesterday. I am not sure when it will be Arsenal, but it might be someone else at that point.
After the final matchday, we hope to be there. Of course, it is preferable to stay put the entire time and put some space between you and the others. We are content with the circumstances we are in. I really do not mind; in fact, I am thrilled that these boys put us in that predicament and wish we had more points.
The boys who contributed 71 points for us today are the same ones who squandered a few opportunities. There will probably be additional twists,” Klopp added.
