Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has praised James Milner’s effort in trying to stop Manchester United’s first goal last night.
The Reds were all at sea as Jadon Sancho was given the freedom of the Liverpool penalty area to pick his spot. And speaking to BBC Sport after the game, Klopp said Milner was the only Liverpool player who tried to stop the goal happening.
“There was only one player who tried to block it, let me say it like this. I didn’t see it back but I saw that Milly tried to jump around and there was not a lot of help around,” said the Reds manager.
Klopp was then asked about an apparent altercation between Milner and Virgil Van Dijk after the goal.
“I think it was about that [no one trying to block Sancho’s shot], but there are no further problems,” he said.
Liverpool looking all at sea at Old Trafford
Sancho’s goal makes for really tough watching from a Liverpool point of view. Having already been served a warning with Anthony Elanga hitting the post, The Reds failed to wake up.
The give-and-go down the right-side was simply too easy. It was executed nicely from a United point of view, but the defending was non-existent.
From that point onwards it was pure comedy capers from Liverpool. You have to credit the £140k-a-week Milner for attempting to get out to Sancho. But the forward should never have been left in that much space to begin with.
Whoever’s fault that is, only the player’s and Klopp will know. But one thing’s for sure, when the United man left Milner for dead, Virgil Van Dijk simply had to get out to him.
Instead, the centre-back stood motionless. Without any pressure on the ball, Sancho couldn’t miss.
In Van Dijk’s defence, he can’t have known that Alisson Becker was on the ground behind him. The Liverpool goalkeeper was also sold a little too easily by Sancho’s feint. Once he was down, he was never getting back up.
It was a little alarming to see the reaction from Milner to Van Dijk after the goal. But it also felt necessary from the Liverpool vice-captain.
Virgil has been sluggish of late and the start at Old Trafford was exactly the opposite of what was required. The Dutchman contributed to that. Worrying signs on top of worrying signs. Liverpool need to put in the hours this week and make sure they’re a totally different side come Saturday.
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