Jurgen Klopp defends team selection as Manchester United beat Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp has spoken out after Manchester United beat Liverpool 4-0 in the pre-season friendly in Thailand and believes his team selection was right, as per Liverpool Echo.
“We have to do what is right for us, we can’t have a look at what line-up the opponent uses.”
The Reds boss said that he wouldn’t change the approach to the game. The German believes Liverpool had chances in the game and were better in some moments. Klopp feels what was lacking in the side was consistency and the Reds Devils pounced on our mistakes.
Our German boss reckons the team hasn’t had much time to prepare. The gaffer believes there’s still a lot to improve. Even if the Reds hadn’t lost, there are still some aspects of the game that the Anfield side needs to work on.
“The result is fair, we have to accept that always. But I think it’s clear we could have scored our goals as well, then it would have been a more spectacular game.”
Klopp is of the opinion that the goals conceded by us didn’t really have much build-up to them and it was all about the Old Trafford side being clinical in front of goal. The boos saw a few glimpses in our play as well.
“It was pretty clear where we made mistakes but you have to keep on playing and we did, we could have scored three or four in the last five minutes and we didn’t, that’s our fault.”
Liverpool were beaten by United in the first game of pre-season in Bangkok. The kick-off to the tour has started on a disappointing note but there’s still a lot to take from the game.
The Reds started with a “weaker” side compared to the side from Manchester starting a near full-strength team. We also had three separate teams play 30 minutes each. The teams relied heavily on youngsters.
Klopp opted to give every travelling member of the squad time on the pitch. Fans were able to witness Fabio Carvalho and Darwin Nunez for the first time in a Liverpool shirt. There were also other youngsters who featured for the first time.
The loss isn’t really a reflection on how the next campaign will go. Pre-season is meant to prepare the team and iron out the kinks. The new signings and youngsters showed glimpses of what they could offer going forward.
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The tour in Thailand is also an exercise in building rapport and chemistry amongst the squad. Players who struggled with injuries last season, like Roberto Firmino, will also have a chance to have minutes on the pitch and regain fitness and sharpness.
