Oviri Kelvin, Sports Editor
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said the humiliating defeat meted on his side by Manchester United in a friendly game in Bangkok, Thailand was unexpected as the Reds were unable to finish off their chances.
Klopp yesterday said Liverpool gave too many chances away but conceded that at least every player had the opportunity to a 30minutes of play.
In his statement after the 4-0 thumping of last season’s FA Cup and Carabao Cup champions, the German coach praised United players for being clinical in taking their chances to spur their team to victory.
“Obviously the game came a little bit too early for us, for some of our boys, so I think we agree that we saw a lot of good things in this game, but in the decisive moments we were not clear enough with finishing our situations off,” Klopp said after the match. The Trumpet Gathered
“We gave massive chances away, pretty much. Pretty much no-brainers, but United did well in these moments, they finished the situation off.
“We admit that but that’s it pretty much. The most important thing now after the game, even when I hate losing, everybody has 30 minutes in their legs now, for some on the third day of training [that’s] really harsh but that’s the life of a professional football player. So now we can work with that and will work with that,” the Liverpool boss added.
However, Klopp pointed out that his side had an opportunity to equalise in the latter part of the encounter, stressing that lack of adequate time to prepare for the clash hampered their outing.
Liverpool boss continued: “As I said, we could have scored the equaliser in the last four minutes! But that’s how it is. I know, football is a results game and we do it all for that, but we have to prepare for a full season.
“We had no chance to prepare for this game, really, so we had to do it like we did it with three teams, three times 30 minutes and we are now eight days in training with a big group and with all internationals, it is three days.
“That’s it and from here we go, so of course, I would have loved to have shown the people here a few goals. The chances were there, we didn’t use them, and that’s it,” Klopp lamented.
Meanwhile, Manchester manager Erik ten Hag praised his team for the good game though they made some mistakes adding the opponent were not in their strongest form.
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The Dutch gaffer noted that there is work to be done to improve on his side’s mistakes and reiterated that United created a lot of chances.
“I am satisfied today. It was a team with a great spirit and we know we are just getting started,” Ten Hag said in a post-match interview.
“We made some mistakes in the press, we conceded some chances, but we created a lot.
“We have to work hard to cut out the mistakes but of course we are happy.
“I know we have good players. We have started to build a team and I am happy with the first game.
“It will take a lot of time. I have seen a lot of mistakes. Liverpool played three teams, they were not at their strongest. We will not overestimate this result.
“But still, I have seen some really good things. A lot of speed and creativity up front,” the United boss acknowledged.
Manchester United were in top form as they thrashed Liverpool in the friendly tie. Goals from Jadon Sancho, Fred, Anthony Martial, and Facundo Pellistri were enough to hand Head coach Erik ten Hag a beautiful start for Red Devils at the Rajamangala Stadium.
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