Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool have no one to blame but ourselves

Jurgen Klopp and Virgil van Dijk admitted Liverpool only had themselves to blame after dropping more points in the Premier League title race by failing to beat Manchester United yet again.

Liverpool missed a record number of chances as United came from behind to lead before an 84th minute penalty from Mohamed Salah rescued a point for Klopp’s side in a chaotic 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.

The result left Arsenal top of the Premier League table on goal difference and, for Liverpool, had echoes of their 0-0 draw at home to United in December, when they had 34 shots but paid a price for their profligacy.

Liverpool mustered 28 shots on Sunday and at one stage had attempted 15 shots without reply in the game only for United captain Bruno Fernandes to capitalise on a bad mistake by Jarell Quansah and cancel out Luis Diaz’s opener with a stunning equaliser, before another brilliant strike from Kobbie Mainoo put United in front.

The combined number of shots in their two league games against United this season is the most on record by any team since records began 21 years ago, and asked if it felt like a setback to Liverpool’s title hopes, Klopp – who watched his side lose 4-3 here in a dramatic FA Cup quarter-final last month – said: “It does. We should have won the game but we caused a few problems ourselves.

“You shouldn’t do what we do today constantly, that won’t be enough [in the title race], definitely not. But we know that.

“The feelings are obviously mixed. I’m happy with a lot of parts of the game, being 1-0 up at Old Trafford and having a 15-0 shooting stat is incredible.

“There was something around the finishing which was either exceptional goalkeeping [from Andre Onana], which was the case for one situation with Dom Szoboszlai, an incredible save. Besides that we should and could have been calmer and clearer in moments.

“2-2: I’m not over the moon about it, I don’t think that’s the best result I’ve ever seen but I’m fine.

“We played two games [in the league] and got two points [against United] and got knocked out of the FA Cup [by them]. But in all the time I’ve been here I don’t think we ever dominated United like we did in these two games but we didn’t get the results.

“There is obviously space for improvement which we knew anyway. We will keep going with all we have.”

Van Dijk: ‘It is all our own fault again’

Van Dijk said Liverpool cannot continue to be so wasteful if they want to win the league. Asked if it felt like a blow, the Liverpool captain said: “Of course. It is all our own fault again. We should have been 2-0 up at least at half-time. We created danger. We had them under control. It is just a shame, you know?

“It definitely feels like a loss at this point because we were wasteful with our chances which gives them a lifeline. Unfortunately individual mistakes can happen in a game but there was still so much time to put it right but we were in a rush.

“We were losing too many balls and challenges. It feels like a loss. We had so many chances and should finish the game off.”

Arsenal still have to visit Old Trafford before the end of the season and Klopp said he could not see Mikel Arteta’s side being as profligate and losing if United play in similar fashion.

Asked if he would be hoping for a United win that day, Klopp said: “Probably. If we are still around then that would be great. But Arsenal is a good football team. If they [United] play like today, Arsenal will win the game, I am 100 per cent sure. I am sorry to say that. It is a fact we should have won both [league] games [against United] but didn’t.”

Klopp praised Quansah for not allowing the mistake to affect his game. “As a football player in the Premier League and playing for Liverpool, I have the bad news - it will not be the last mistake in his life, unfortunately,” he said.

“I thought he dealt extremely well with it, we dealt well with it. But when our idols in the past made these kinds of mistakes there was no social media so I hope he’s smart enough to switch that off.

“It is not a great situation but there are bigger mistakes in football. Absolutely no blame or criticism, not at all, it just happens. He will learn from it and that’s the best thing that can happen.”

Ten Hag proud of display despite ‘stupid mistakes’

United trail Spurs, in fourth, and fifth placed Aston Villa by 11 points and Erik ten Hag said he had “very mixed emotions” after seeing his side fight back to lead only to again throw away more points late in a game after the 1-1 draw to Brentford and 4-3 defeat at Chelsea.

“On one side I am disappointed that we have dropped seven points in one week after being in winning positions, but we have to blame ourselves for making stupid mistakes,” the United manager said. “On the other side I am very proud. “In decisive areas we were losing battles especially with young players we were not confident to win them [duels]. We encouraged in the second half to do better and they stepped up.

“It’s very disappointing when you put yourselves three times in the week in a winning position just before the end of the game but then drop points, we have all seen some poor decisions.

“All three games had poor decisions and not every time the same players. What is not helping is we have 27 different shapes in the backline, the routines aren’t there, but still we have to improve. The sooner the better.”