Marching to Anfield in round 17 of the Premier League, Man Utd played quite well defensively and excelled in stopping the home team. Liverpool launched 34 shots but could not defeat goalkeeper Onana once.
After the match, coach Ten Hag admitted that he was very satisfied with Man Utd’s defensive position in this match. He shared on Sky Sports: “It was a good performance. You see Liverpool’s destruction at Anfield and then realize your team kept a clean sheet here.
I think Man Utd defended very well. We didn’t give them any remarkable opportunities, especially in open situations. Football is never perfect but the way we defend is close to perfection.
When a player makes a mistake, teammates immediately appear to correct the mistake. The whole team supported each other well. I think that was the team’s biggest victory today. We need to show this in every match.”
However, coach Ten Hag is still not satisfied with the performance of the attack. The team has gone through 3 consecutive matches without being able to score (Bournemouth, Bayern Munich, Liverpool). In the match against Liverpool, Rasmus Hojlund had the opportunity to face the goalkeeper but was unsuccessful.
Coach Ten Hag added: “Rasmus Hojlund had the biggest chance of the match. Anyway, I want the players to get the ball back more. After that, they just need to make two, three, four passes, then Creates damage to opponents.
We had such an opportunity at the end of the second half. Garnacho has a good chance. Hojlund’s chances are even better when facing the opposing goalkeeper. Man Utd has absolutely a chance to win thanks to situations like that.”
Meanwhile, coach Jurgen Klopp expressed regret: “What I don’t like about this match is the result. We should have scored and won. The players did not have the necessary determination. The players appears impatient and lacks composure in many situations.
We had 34 shots but should have created more clear opportunities. The players were too hasty in some moments. This is a tense match. In such a situation, making the right decision is very important. However, we couldn’t do that.”
Coach Klopp criticized Man Utd for “building a bus” in this match. He added: “If you play against a quality team like Man Utd and they only focus on defense, things are not easy. We should have scored to change the outcome of the match. We learn I can ask many things from this match.”
After the draw against Man Utd, Liverpool lost the top spot to Arsenal. They won 38 points after 17 matches, 1 point behind Arsenal. Meanwhile, Man Utd ranked 7th with 28 points.