Liverpool succumbed to shock defeat at the hands of a Manchester United side who were on the back of consecutive defeats in the Premier League. The Reds’ manager Jurgen Klopp had a little chat with United’s Bruno Fernandes post the game on the pitch, which looked a bit sparkling. The German, however shed light on his chat with the Portuguese in his post-match presser, labelling it as the ‘most harmless conversation’ he ever had with a player.
Manchester United turned up in a robust manner against Liverpool, with both the sides yet to pick their first win of the season. The Old Trafford which was buzzing with the ‘anti-Glazers’ chat, soon cheered their side vehemently after Jadon Sancho put them ahead inside 20 minutes. Marcus Rashford then doubled their lead just before the hour mark, as Liverpool’s reply with Mohamed Salah in the 81st minute was not enough for the Reds to stage a comeback.
Jurgen Klopp, Bruno Fernandes share an ‘animated’ moment
Liverpool, after two draws from two games in the league, suffered their first defeat at the Old Trafford. The matter was a tale of two opposite state of affairs as while Liverpool may have lost their first game, but United picked their first win. With pressure mounting on new boss Erik ten Hag to deliver, his Ronaldo-less line-up against Liverpool astonishingly won the first points of the season for United.
On the other hand, a hapless Jurgen Klopp watched from the sidelines his team marred with injuries and suspension unable to cope up with the sudden show of intensity United displayed. Speaking in his post match presser, he the revealed about the talk he had with Bruno Fernandes at the full time whistle. Klopp said: “It was not animated. It was the most harmless conversation I ever had, with a player who is as emotional as I maybe was!
“It was the situation with the centre-half, [Lisandro] Martinez, when he went down with an ‘awful’ tackle [from Carvalho] which was obviously nothing. He [Bruno Fernandes] was talking to me and said ‘you would do the same’, but I said no, I cannot fall like this. It was all fine after the game, he told me he needs these kind of conversations during the game and so I said fine, use me!”
Jurgen Klopp further assessed his side’s slumping defeat against a low-key Man United team wo were on the back of two back-to-back losses. He said: “The start of the game was exactly what everyone excepted, what United fans expected, they were after us. They started slightly more aggressive than us, they could more play the game they wanted than we could play the game we wanted. They scored the goal, which we had to defend differently, but that is how it is with goals.
“At half time we showed the boys a couple of situations we did really well and wanted to do that again but then we conceded the second goal. We scored a goal and we deserved in that period and then you have to force it, we tried, have to admit in the end not good enough and that is why we lost.”
Liverpool have over six of their first-team players on the treatment table, with majority of them being midfielders in Thiago, Naby Keita, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. While Klopp at first was reluctant in bringing in new players, he has admitted that new recruitments are needed to resolve the midfield crisis. With just over a week to go for the transfer window to shut, it will be interesting to see who Liverpool bring in.