Following Manchester United’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp cut the figure of a bitter man when discussing the result. They’ve won just four of their last 10 games in all competitions, losing two and drawing four.

“What can I say? A very positive performance,” he said. “[We were] the better side, played better football, had the best plan. We could’ve been a bit more clinical. In those last 20 minutes, Man United only [played] long balls. We would have deserved three points but now we take one. We take a point at United, and that’s absolutely OK. But it’s nicer when you have this work rate and you get all three points!”

Asked by Geoff Shreeves about “When United where coming on strong in second half…”, Klopp muttered under his breathe: “With the long balls.”

In his post-match press conference, the boss said: “Over the whole game we were the better side, but then they came with the long ball, Fellaini, like this. When Fellaini came on, it wasn’t football anymore. With all our problems, I’m proud of the boys today.”

Interesting enough, 20% of United’s passes today were long balls. 19% of Liverpool’s were. Considering this is the man who less than a year ago was playing Steven Caulker, a defender who is six foot three, up front in a bid to get a goal back against Arsenal, it’s strange to see him be so snobby about United’s tactics which, by the the way, worked well.

Not only did United dominate possession, 58% of all our passes were in Liverpool’s half. By contrast, just 49% of Liverpool’s passes were in our half, showing they had more of the ball in their own half than they did in ours.

Considering the only goal Liverpool managed to score, in a game Klopp believes they deserved to win, came from the penalty spot, you can only presume these post-match ramblings are from a man who is bitter about seeing our 84th minute equaliser. After drawing 0-0 at home against League 2 side Plymouth Argyle and losing against 13th placed side Southampton in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final, Klopp really could have done with a result today.