Jarell Quansah paid the price for a wayward pass at Man United, but Jurgen Klopp was clear after the draw that there is “absolutely no blame” on the youngster’s shoulders.
Man United were gifted a way back into the game after Quansah misplaced his pass to Virgil van Dijk, with Bruno Fernandes catching Caoimhin Kelleher off his line to make it 1-1.
Liverpool were in cruise control up until that stage and ought to have been a few goals up, and that lack of a clinical edge in front of goal forced two crucial points to be dropped.
And while Quansah may be the easy scapegoat for the collapse, Klopp accepts mistakes happen and that the 21-year-old will learn from it – and his message for his defender was clear.
Klopp said of the centre-back: “Look, as a professional football player he will play in the Premier League and for Liverpool, and I have the bad news [that] it will not be his last mistake, unfortunately.
“But that’s how life is. I thought he dealt extremely well with it and we dealt well with it.
“When our idols in the past made these kind of mistakes there was no social media, so I hope he’s smart enough to switch that part off.
“Don’t read the Daily Mail or whatever where they go for people in these moments like they offended you personally.
“That’s part of the business, that’s part of the game. We want to play football, we want to keep the ball, we want to have the ball, we want to be playing [in the] build-up, all these kind of things.
“It is not a great situation, but how I said, there were bigger mistakes in football and they were not used, but Bruno saw the opportunity and took it, and that’s how it is.
“So, absolutely no blame or whatever, not at all, no criticism. That just happens, he will learn from it and that’s the best thing that can happen.”
The point on social media is incredibly crucial, it is not an accurate reflection of the majority of Liverpool’s fans, who will rightly acknowledge how well Quansah has done this season.
Yes, he made a costly mistake and he will be beating himself up about it, but the Reds’ demise at Old Trafford was down to their inability to finish off an opponent when there for the taking and not Quansah alone.
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