Press conferenceJürgen Klopp's verdict on Liverpool's defeat by Manchester United

The Reds suffered a first Premier League loss since December as efforts from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford either side of half-time put the hosts into a two-goal lead inside the opening 53 minutes.

Mohamed Salah’s late header gave the visitors hope, but they could not muster a leveller in the closing stages.

Read on to see what Klopp had to say in his media briefing following the final whistle.

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On his emotions after the game...

Emotions? We lost. That says, I think, everything about my expected emotions. That’s it. Very disappointed about the result.

On whether he is concerned by Liverpool’s ‘attitude’...

I don’t think that is a question you have to ask, to be honest, because if you saw both games [tonight and Fulham] the difference couldn’t be bigger. No, it is a game where everything was clear, everything was on the table. It was not 100 per cent clear what United would do, but that’s how they started the game. Were they more aggressive than us in the beginning? Probably, yes. It was exactly the game United wanted to play and you can say that is our fault if you want. In the beginning there, it was wild, up and down and these kind of things and they had their chance when they hit the post. Then they scored the goal and then we took over, more or less. Until the final pass or final decision, we played like we should have played. Against so many legs in the defence, it is not easy to create now every 20 seconds a new chance, but we had a lot of moments in the box.

We were unlucky after a set-piece and I still have no idea how the ball did not go in, but that’s how it is. We all know how football games look when you have such an aggressive start, such a bright start if you want, if we would have scored there but didn’t. We showed the boys a couple of situations from the first half where we did exactly what we had to do, where we played in their formation, where we found Bobby and how Harvey was open and how Hendo and Millie were open in these moments, how we then could get in the box, show the two wingers where we wanted them, more often coming in behind the centre-halves and things like this. We were a bit too long, too wide.

One-nil down but rather positive half-time, getting out, again a wild start if you want, but we are in the game now, really in the game. Then we conceded a second and that’s not helpful. That obviously created a special atmosphere here. When we scored our goal, which I think we absolutely deserved in this game, it was slightly late. We had more moments where De Gea, top saves, or they blocked our shots and these kind of things and these are the facts. It was 2-1 because time ran out and we had not the clear-cut chances in the last two or three minutes anymore because the watch just ran down without real football because of different situations.

On whether there are ‘issues that need to be fixed’ within the team...

I realise now, I didn’t even see it, but I think it [the question] is about an argument on the pitch or whatever, shouting at each other and these kind of things. We don’t have any kind of issues; I have not any kind of issues in the team like this. That nobody is happy after you lose a game is completely normal, but this is not an explanation, not an excuse or whatever. It’s all fine there, in this department.

On the decision to start Fabinho on the bench...

No, we have in the moment five senior midfielders and we have to start with three. We could start with two if we would have more attackers but we have only three attackers, so it means we start with three and then we change during the game and it’s like how we want to start. And how we want to change, we have to think before the game and that’s the only reason for it. This is not the story of the game as well. It’s just the decision for this game.

On Naby Keita’s injury...

We need further assessment, but it doesn’t look like that tomorrow he is in training. But we need further assessment. It’s just Sunday, yesterday, and then whether we know more tomorrow, I don’t know.

On whether it’s easy to ‘ignore the table’ at this point in the season...

Not that we ignore it... it’s not the nicest thing to look at, that’s clear, but it’s our situation. Look, we can talk about all the things but in the end I saw tonight a game. So, during the week it is not easy because we have 15 senior outfield players, I think, in training. That’s obviously not cool. But for the game tonight, I liked the line-up, saw good performances as well tonight. Obviously we were not good enough to win the game but I think we all know that if we score here in any situations an equaliser, it would not have been the biggest surprise in the world, so it’s a deserved draw after a start where United looked sharper than us – but that was not too long and in the situation I think a little bit to expect. In a home game, imagine they wouldn’t have fought today from the first second? That would’ve been an interesting situation. But they did. So, our situation is how it is. It’s not perfect but good enough to play better tonight, and I think our situation is good enough that we could’ve won the game tonight if we would have played slightly better.