Jurgen Klopp Laments Refereeing Decisions & Liverpool's Defensive Errors After Man Utd Defeat

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has laid the blame on a number of dubious refereeing decisions and costly defensive errors after the Reds succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday. 

The Reds struggled to get to grips with United's direct aerial threat which resulted in an early double from Marcus Rashford in the first half and despite a resurgence in the second period - which saw Eric Bailly score an own goal - Liverpool left themselves with too much to do to mount a successful comeback. 

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However, Klopp felt his side were impeded by a lack of refereeing decisions going in their favour as he believes a clear penalty was denied after Marouane Fellaini prevented Sadio Mane with the chance to equalise after a hasty challenge in the penalty area. 

"It didn't go our way because of the two goals we conceded. We have to defend these situations better," Klopp told Sky Sports. 

"You can always lose a header or tackle with [Romelu] Lukaku but you need to close the gap in behind. They scored the two goals and that made the game harder.

"There were a few OK moments and two good ones in the first half where we could have done better and been more clinical, but we didn't score before half-time and chased the game in the second half.

"We scored and had more chances and I thought Fellaini's tackle on Mane was a clear penalty. If there's no foul, Sadio shoots. It's a free shot from the edge of the box. In a situation like this you need the right decisions.

"But as we said before the game it's all about the result and we lost. They scored two we scored one so they deserve the three points, but a point would have been absolutely fair for us."

With yet another trip to Old Trafford failing to return three points, Klopp admitted his side were not at their best to be able to turn a two goal deficit around, as he added: "It's really clear [that we were not at our best]. I have no explanation for that.

"We needed to be there when Rashford cut back for his first goal, 100 per cent. I don't know who but we were not there. In those two decisive moments we were not good.

"A lot of other moments we were good. We fought back with heart, played some good football, crossed everything into the box, the clear chances were they but we did not score."