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Premier League | Liverpool v/s Man Utd: Klopp, Mourinho blame each other for snooze-fest at Anfield

'For sure you could not play this way at Liverpool, but it's okay for Manchester United,' says Jurgen Klopp.

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Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp (R) and his Manchester United counterpart Jose Mourinho after their Premier League clash on Saturday
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Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said he could never get away with the cautious tactics used by Manchester United counterpart Jose Mourinho in Saturday's 0-0 Premier League draw at Anfield.

"Manchester United came here for a point and got it," the German said in a TV interview. "For sure you could not play this way at Liverpool, but it's okay for Manchester United."

Asked later at the post-match press conference to expand on his thoughts about Mourinho's tactics, the German, whose team still trail United by seven points, was more diplomatic.

"I said it was obvious they had a more defensive approach, I think that was obvious, but that's completely fine," he said. "After the game, it looked to me like they wanted a point; if they could get three, they would take it of course, but we wanted three.

"So they are happy and we are not happy. That's easy. But it's a home game so we should be dominant. I'm OK with the performance. It's not my job to judge the Manchester United performance," he added.

Klopp said that while he was disappointed not to pick up all three points, he was pleased with the way his team performed against one of the title favourites. "For me, a team who can become champions this year was at our stadium and it was not a world apart from us. It's not that we play on different planets, it's not that they are really good and we don't find the entrance of the stadium. It's okay and we will carry on," he said.

"If you watch the game and you have an idea of football, you cannot expect that we create 20 chances against Manchester United – it's just simply not possible. Barcelona on the best day would not do it. You will see, United will not lose a lot of games in this season," he added.

"If you want to be happy today you can be happy, but if you think, 'Okay, again not too bad...' – which is probably my view on it – then you can be in this mood and carry on," said Klopp.

Defiant Mourinho

United manager Jose Mourinho rejected the idea that his team went to Liverpool for a point and said Saturday's 0-0 Premier League draw reflected Juergen Klopp's tactics as much as his own.

United, who moved to 20 points from eight games, showed little ambition to attack and did not manage a single shot on goal in the second half but Mourinho said he had been waiting for Klopp's side to open up in search of a win.

Asked if a point was his target in the game, Mourinho said: "No, we came for three but in the second half we felt (it was) difficult to do that with the match, the dynamic as it was.

"I was waiting for Juergen to change and go more attacking but he kept the three strong midfielders at all times, where he was having control because I had only (Ander) Herrera and (Nemanja) Matic," said the United manager.

Mourinho noted the absence of midfield options from the United bench, caused by injuries to Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick, but also defended his approach by highlighting that he had brought on attacking players Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford in the second half.

"When I brought on Lingard and Rashford I was waiting for him (Klopp) to give me more space to counter but he didn’t give me. So I know that probably you think we were defensive and they were offensive – well, you are at home and you don’t move anything. I don’t know? I was waiting for that and he didn’t. I think he did well, honestly.

"The game was never broken, they pressed high, they recovered the ball, so I think they were very good by the defensive point of view. The only chance I had to change the direction of the game was to bring on players for one-on-one, players with speed and maybe they are going to change (the game), but they didn’t," added Mourinho.

However, the Portuguese manager seemed unconcerned that such a highly anticipated game had ended in a dull stalemate, which left Liverpool seven points behind United.

"It depends on what is for you an entertaining game. One thing is an entertaining game for fans, another thing is an entertaining game for people who read football in a different way. That’s different. For me, the second half was a bit of chess, but my opponent didn’t open the door for me to win the game."

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