Liverpool’s loss to Man Utd in the FA Cup quarter-finals was their eighth match in 25 days.
Jurgen Klopp admitted that Liverpool’s hectic schedule caught up with them in their FA Cup loss against Manchester United.
The Reds’ aspirations of winning four trophies were put paid to by their bitter rivals in the quarter-finals of the historic competition. Liverpool suffered a 4-3 extra-time defeat at Old Trafford – despite leading the game twice.
It was Liverpool’s eighth fixture in a 25-day period amid an injury crisis, which included a last-gasp victory over Chelsea in extra-time to be crowned Carabao Cup champions. There was also an enthralling 1-1 draw against Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
Klopp tried to fresh up his team throughout the United contest, with Mo Salah, Andy Robertson, Joe Gomez and Luis Diaz all being withdrawn. But the Liverpool manager revealed he did not know who should have been taken off during the game and that he could well have substituted Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo and Darwin Nunez.
The Liverpool boss told reporters: “The problem is we didn’t even know who to take off. For a while it was alright, in 90 minutes everything would have been fine. But then with extra-time, it was like options were now not [there].
We can talk now we bring the kids – we all said that all the time, you have to bring them in the right moment. They are fantastic but it was not the right moment. You just saw, we could have [taken off] Macca definitely, Wataru [Endo] definitely, Darwin [Nunez] definitely, Lucho [Diaz] we did then, Joey [Gomez]. They play all the time the boys and today, this extra-time.
“Let me say, if you lose then lose in normal time but not extra-time and then losing that late. That’s obviously close to get the penalty shootout. That would have been the same intensity if we don’t concede the last two goals, but the way we conceded the last two goals you can see as well, obviously we were not on top of our game anymore, gave two balls away.
Absolutely no criticism about that. I saw a team who understood the importance of the game and gave absolutely everything. Today it was not enough and that’s what we have to accept now.