Jurgen Klopp‘s opinion has not changed in regards to the Man United game being one Liverpool “should have won,” but he’s ready to use the lessons inflicted for the better.
Disappointment still lingers over the events at Old Trafford last weekend, with the Reds failing to put United to the sword, and they have themselves to blame for taking home a single point.
“I said at the time that this was a game that we should have won, and nothing has changed my opinion on that,” Klopp reiterated in his programme notes for the visit of Atalanta.
“We should have been calmer and clearer in moments that could and should have been decisive for us. This did not happen, so we accepted the result and move on.”
Liverpool’s schedule leaves little time to dwell on results, but what is clear is that the lessons cannot be skimmed over as the Reds cannot afford to, again, be their own worst enemy.
The manager knows his side can be better, but he remains balanced in his perspective, even going as far as using an English proverb to get his point across.
“What should not be forgotten, though, is that to have the particular problem we had, a lot of the rest of our game has to have been really good. We cannot lose sight of this.
He added: “Criticism is a normal part of the business that we are in and it was clear that it would come after this result but it would be really dumb if we did not recognise that there were things that we did really well at the same time as recognising that there were elements that we need to do better.
“The truth is I have been involved in a lot of games in my career and I cannot remember too many that did not finish with something that needed to be improved. This one was no different.
“But it does not need to be any bigger than this and nor should we allow one game to define who we are or what we want to be.
“We should, of course, use the information and we are definitely doing this and we should push ourselves to be better but not at the expense of recognising that the players we have and the football that we have played this season are the reasons why we are in a good position at this point of the season.
“I think the English saying talks about not throwing the baby out with the bath water. That makes a lot of sense to me right now.”
Klopp has always had a way with words, and this time is no different. All we can hope for is that Liverpool find their ruthless streak and use it to propel them in Europa and the Premier League.
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