Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke on Friday about the frustration Jurgen Klopp showed earlier in the season. He’s reading it wrong, however.
Klopp bemoaned Manchester United only defending after the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford but Solskjaer feels that’s a compliment. Klopp said that defending as United did was ‘obviously the easier thing to do’.
“I don’t think it’s an accusation,” said Solskjaer on Friday, per the Mirror. “I take it as a compliment, that we’ve defended so well.
“When the opposition manager is frustrated, that’s a good sign our boys have done well. I think we’ve been closest to winning both games against Liverpool, so I don’t know what the problem has been.”
It’s hard to believe that Klopp meant it as a compliment. It almost certainly wasn’t, in fact.
Klopp v Sarri
You only need to look back to last season to see another 1-1 away draw where Klopp thought the exact opposite. Liverpool stole a late draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but the boss’s attitude was very different.
“At some point, I turned to [Klopp] and saw that he was smiling,” Maurizio Sarri told Gazzetta Dello Sport after that game. “I went up and asked him why.
“He said ‘I’m having a great time, are you?’. ‘Me too’ I replied.”
Now, unless that conversation took place in the final minute, Liverpool were almost certainly losing that game. Klopp, however, enjoyed it because two good teams went all out for the win. He certainly didn’t label Chelsea boring.
Manchester United 1-1 Liverpool was not that. That was a home side defending deep, attempting under half as many passes as the away side, and trying to steal a win.
Something they failed to do.
That’s Klopp’s frustration. Not that United defended brilliantly but that he took his team to a top side in a huge game and didn’t get to see them go at it.
And Solskjaer believing that reflects well on his side is a fine example of the chasm between Liverpool and United right now.
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