Reactions from Jurgen Klopp and Erik ten Hag following United’s victory over Liverpool

Manchester United defeated Liverpool 2-1 thanks to a performance full of grit, skill, and fight that astounded Jurgen Klopp’s team.

Jadon Sancho’s skillful strike gave United their first victory under Erik ten Hag, and Marcus Rashford’s excellent counterattacking goal gave Liverpool additional cause for concern. Mohamed Salah did score for Liverpool late on, but it was too little, too late.

After the game, Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag spoke to Sky Sports and said:

“We can talk about tactical but it is all about attitude. There was communication and a fighting spirit.

“I wanted a different approach and a different attitude and that is what they brought on the pitch. It is only a start. We can play with much more composure and much more danger. Be a team and have a good spirit – and that is what we saw today.

“It is not always about what I said. I said we have to act and not to talk a lot and make sure you are a team and battle and be brave and give each other options.

“I said to [the players] we have to act, not talk a lot. Make sure you are a team and battle and be brave. It’s not only about spirit out of possession.

“Sometimes strikers think they cannot do it because they have to save their energy for offensive actions. Nowadays it’s a demand and that is what you saw. It makes me happy Rashford and Sancho scored the goals.

“I am happy with the performance but we have to bring it every game. Don’t just bring it against Liverpool. Every Premier League game is difficult, we need to bring it to every game. It starts, once again, with the spirit.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp also spoke to Sky Sports and said:

“It’s obvious we are in a tricky situation injury-wise, we get through the week with 14-15 senior players available, we have to make sure none of them get injured because there’s no real options left any more.

“Even with our situation, but playing a little bit better, if we were a little more convinced about what we do we should’ve won this game. I know it sounds ridiculous, but that’s how I see it.

“They were really aggressive in the beginning, it was absolutely clear what would happen. Reality shows if we are really ready, and in the beginning, they were more aggressive than us, they hit the post and it was a hectic game.

“Then they scored the goal, and we took over, and played the game we wanted to play, more or less.

“We were unlucky with situations, especially around set-pieces. I don’t know how one ball didn’t go in, in a game like this against an opponent like United it would be very helpful if we could score in that moment and go in 1-1 at half-time.

“Conceding the second one doesn’t help, and then we score ours and then it’s a hectic game with a lot of interruptions – and not the result we wanted.

“Maybe they were [sharper], that’s not right of course but when we calmed down we were there. We had an extreme number of shots for an away game at United, we should use more of these moments if we do that.”