Klopp Talk: “I Really Saw My Team Struggling”

Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Liverpool had chances to put the game away against Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter final but fell apart in extra time.

After a slow start to the first half on Sunday, Liverpool ended the first half up a goal against historic rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter finals. In the second, they were the better side. They had chances to put the game away.

They failed to take them.

It led to a late United equaliser against the run of play that took the game to extra time where, again, Liverpool went up a goal. This time around, a team that has played too many games this season lost its legs. This time around, United scored two, levelling and then winning the tie in extra time.

“Obviously today was really tough for us with the 130 or whatever minutes,” manager Jürgen Klopp said of playing a game that officially lasted 120 minutes but had significant stoppage time tacked on to the end of each half.

“United had the clear best start, it was obvious, they scored the early goal. We had to organise ourselves a little bit better, then it looked really good. We were absolutely deserved 2-1 up. And second half was exceptional, absolutely exceptional.

“But we didn’t finish the game off and when you leave the door open away from home at Old Trafford, it’s clear they will get chances. Then it got really hard for us. That was now the first time that I really saw my team struggling, that’s how it is. We played a lot of football recently.”

Liverpool have played a lot of football lately. And they’re still in the two competitions that matter most to the fans—and one imagines the players and managers. Still, it’s never fun to lose to United.

And it’s especially not fun to lose a game deep into extra time knowing that you should have won it comfortably in regulation. That, and the role exhaustion played in the defeat, means the only priority now is rest and recovery, something made difficult by the March international break.

“Now the boys have to recover,” Klopp added. “It’s really tough, they fly now all around the world pretty much and in five or six days play two games. Let’s hope and pray they come all back healthy and then we will start the rest of the season.”