After going down 3-2 in a fourth round tie at Old Trafford, Jurgen Klopp has promised that Liverpool will be ready for the counter-attacking threat of Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham in their Premier League rendezvous on Thursday, having been caught out on the break by Manchester United in the FA Cup.
Mohamed Salah gave the Reds the lead but United then struck either side of half-time through Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford as both forwards raced away from the visiting defence.
Mo Salah then managed a Liverpool equaliser, only for Bruno Fernandes to score the final winner from a free-kick twelve minutes from the end.
The defeat sees Liverpool’s miserable recent form continuing to stagnate managing to beat only a young Aston Villa side since their 7-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace pre-Christmas, and Klopp says his side were guilty of being a little over-eager to score at Old Trafford.
“There were a lot of positives in the game. The start was really positive, fully in the game,” he told beIN Sports.
“Then we lost some balls in the wrong moments which leads to counter attacks for Man Utd. They didn’t score with the first one, but they scored with the second or third situation.
“In that moment you saw that when you don’t score for a while and you are so desperate to change that, we tried – in these moments – too hard tonight.
“We had too many possible options upfront, and nobody in protection pretty much.
“That’s how they scored their first goal.”
With Liverpool desperate to get their Premier League title defence back on track, Thursday’s trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium looms large, but Klopp thinks his team will be ready.
“It was a good test tonight for our next opponent, we play Tottenham, and they, obviously, are not too bad in counter-attacking as well,” he said.
“So yeah we should do that better, but I know the boys will do it better.”