"The goals we gave away, we could have got assists for it" - Klopp critical of Liverpool's sloppiness in 4-0 Manchester United defeat

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gave an honest assessment of his side's performance in the 4-0 loss against Manchester United on July 12. He did not shy away from criticizing them for their sloppiness and admitted that it was a fair result.

The Red Devils came out victors in Erik ten Hag's first game in charge against their rivals in their pre-season match at Thailand's Rajamangala Stadium.

Manchester United named a strong starting XI while Liverpool's lineup featured quite a few squad players who usually don't get to start games. Klopp made a total of 21 changes throughout the match. He fielded almost three different playing XIs in three half-hour spells of the game. However, that is still not an excuse for the Reds' heavy defeat.

After the game, the German manager said, via Manchester Evening News (MEN):

"The result is fair, we have to accept that, but it's clear we could have scored our goals as well and then it would have been a more spectacular game. The goals we gave away, we could have got assists for it, they used the chances, they caused us problems, but I saw a lot of good stuff from my team."

The Manchester United squad definitely had an advantage. Most of their players joined pre-season training at least a week earlier than many of Liverpool's stars. The philosophy and ideas Ten Hag is looking to implement are visible and it was a great outing for most of the Red Devils.

Speaking on the idea of going with a weaker line-up and only introducing his first-team stars in the final 30 minutes, Klopp said:

"We have to do what is right for us, we can’t have a look at what line-up the opponent uses, United have been in training a week longer for the core group."

He added:

"The game came a bit too early for us, individual mistakes happen in football. It was pretty clear where we made mistakes but we could have scored three or four in the last five minutes and we didn’t, that’s our fault."

The Reds made plenty of mistakes throughout the 90 minutes and the score could've been much worse on another day.

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Manchester United manager refuses to get carried away by dominant performance against Liverpool

Erik ten Hag's side had the game wrapped up in the first-half as goals from Jadon Sancho, Fred and Anthony Martial saw them go 3-0 up. Young starlet Facundo Pellistri came on in the second half and got on the scoresheet to condemn the Reds to a 4-0 defeat.

Manchester United managed to come away with a clean sheet. However, they gave Liverpool enough chances to get back into the game at various junctures. Addressing these mistakes, the Dutch manager told Manchester United TV, via Utdreport:

"[It will take] a lot of time. Believe me. I have seen a lot of mistakes. Liverpool played three teams, and they were not at their strongest. We have not overestimated this result."

They will next face Melbourne Victory on Friday, June 15. Meanwhile, Liverpool will face Crystal Palace on the same day.