ReactionAndy Robertson: A poor start, but we need to stick together

The Reds fell to a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford, meaning their winless run at the start of the Premier League season now stands at three games.

Post-match, Robertson spoke to Sky Sports. Read a transcript below.

On how he would sum up the performance…

Obviously not great. It’s definitely not been the start to the season that we wanted, it’s been really poor. We give every team a goal start which is the basis of the game, you can’t keep on giving yourself an uphill battle. We’ve conceded an early goal again, we’ve started slow again and that’s what needs to change. We can’t keep going one behind. Probably in the warm-up [tonight] it was the quietest I have ever heard this stadium - they wanted something to lift them and we unfortunately gave them it and then they obviously got behind their team. The players reacted and then you end up finding yourself 1-0 down, we started the second half slow again and you find yourself 2-0 down. Then you start to find your rhythm, we start to create chances, we score a goal and we looked to try to make them a wee bit nervous but we didn’t. To be fair they saw the game out well. So, like I said, two points from nine is not the start that we wanted. We need to pick up our performances individually and collectively very quickly. We need to kickstart our season, that’s for sure.

On whether he can identify the reason for Liverpool’s slow starts…

No, but we need to very quickly. We need to come together, we need to address it as a team because we can’t keep going out there… it is easy talking about it in the changing room, it’s easy talking about it before the game, but we have to go out and do it. We can’t keep conceding goals. We have to be a team that starts the game well, that puts pressure on the other team, not the other way around. That’s three games this season now. Maybe Crystal Palace was a wee bit different, we started really well there and then got hit with a sucker punch, but Fulham started better than us, they’ve definitely started better than us today. Even when you go back to the end of last season, Wolves, Real Madrid, Southampton, teams like that, that was the back end of last season and it had already kicked in. So, it needs to change. Like I said, in this league against good teams, you can’t keep giving them a goal start and just now unfortunately that’s what we’re doing.

On what he was thinking after United’s first goal…

It was, ‘We need to get our fingers out very quickly.’ I think we did calm down towards the end of the first half, I thought in the last 10-15 minutes we started playing the football we wanted to play, started creating chances. You look to carry that into the second half but we started the second half slow again. Look, of course we are frustrated, we are a team that wants to win games and just now that is not happening. But it’s so important that we stick together. The team is tight, we’re a really close unit and obviously things need to be said but we also we need to stick together and we are all in it together. Things will get better, I do believe that, but it needs to start quickly because like you said, it’s not been the start we wanted. We’re far behind where we want to be and in this league it’s very unforgiving. So we need to get results quickly, we need to start kicking into gear and if we do that I’m sure we’ll look back on this as what kickstarted it. But we need our first three points, that’s for sure.

On the title race…

It’s early on in the season but even if we were at the top of the league we wouldn’t be thinking about the title race. We’ve always been consistent with that every season, you don’t really think about it until you get closer to see where everyone’s at. The start of the season is always a bit messy where you just try to find your feet. This season we haven’t done it and yeah, we’re not thinking about that. We need to get our first win on the board, we need to get our first win, we need to try to get ahead first in the game and try to put in a good performance, get our first clean sheet and get back to our basics. And if we can do that, that’s the only way we will win games, it’s as simple as that. We’ve always been a hard-working team, we’ve always been honest, we’ve always been passionate. We need to keep doing that but we also need to be clinical in both boxes and if we do that I believe the results will come. But they need to come quickly.

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