Liverpool scripted history as they thumped arch-rivals Manchester United 7-0 at the Anfield. Jurgen Klopp was delighted with the win over United but he also highlighted the areas that his players need to improve.
It was a very close game in the first half as the Red Devils also had plenty of opportunities to score before Cody Gakpo finally opened the scoring for the hosts, which was the only goal in the first half. The second half was historic for more than one reason as Liverpool simply dominated the United defenders, netting seven goals in total. It was United’s heaviest defeat in Premier League history.
Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah all bagged braces whereas Roberto Firmino also scored one late in the game.
While Klopp understands the excitement around the win and especially regarding the margin of defeat against the club’s arch rivals, he the German tactician had some criticisms aswell.
“You saw what positive result can do to the boys. We’re 7-0 up, someone played a backpass to Luke Shaw and we chased him with four players. You think, ‘What are we doing here?’ How much adrenaline it gives you and how much positivity it gives you.”
“When you get a bit more dominant results-wise, in that moment you don’t use the patterns anymore because you don’t need to. But the patterns we had for today were exactly the things which caused United problems,” Klopp highlighted after the big win.
He then shared an instance form the game where Harvey Elliott was left exposed and Jordan Henderson and Fabinho were nowhere near him to provide cover. Klopp wants to avoid these circumstances for future games because they won’t win all the matches by this margin and on another day this mistake can be costly for them.
“We had a moment in the first half where Fabinho and Hendo were half-left in the box. I’m not sure where Harvey was there but probably not in protection. These moments we don’t need. That’s when you lose a bit because of the excitement, you lose the overview but these things are really important to be stable and that’s what we need to be. We need consistency, we need results,” He concluded.
This was Manchester United’s first defeat in 12 games and coming to this match most people thought it would be very competitive given the Red Devils had recently lifted the EFL Cup beating Newcastle United whereas Liverpool haven’t had a smooth sailing season in comparison. But what unfolded was historic and simply amazing. Liverpool did this to Bournemouth too in August when the Reds thrashed them 9-0.
