Jurgen Klopp had no complaints after Liverpool dropped more Premier League points early in the season after an entertaining 0-0 draw at Merseyside rivals Everton on Saturday.
In a game that swung from end to end, Tom Davies hit the woodwork for the home side, while Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz suffered a similar fate for the Reds at Goodison Park.
Everton keeper Jordan Pickford turned Nunez’s shot on to the bar brilliantly and also denied Liverpool substitute Roberto Firmino on three separate occasions, while Mohamed Salah hit the post again in the final seconds after another Pickford save.
Former Liverpool defender Conor Coady thought he had broken the deadlock against his former club when he turned in debutant Neal Maupay’s shot but the goal was disallowed after a lengthy VAR intervention.
And speaking after the game, Klopp told BT Sport: “It was a real derby, super intense and full of really spectacular moments. They scored a goal – I didn’t see it back but I think it probably was offside. Ali made an excellent save. I think we hit the post three times and there were a few unbelievable saves from Pickford – wow, what can you do?
Liverpool forced to dig deep
“In this game, easy and free-flowing is not possible. You have to dig deep, that’s what we did. A 0-0 draw sounds strange, but that’s it.
“It was a super intense week for us. We had a really tough game that went to the wire [against Newcastle on Wednesday], then a few days later you play here. If you open up with a goal, the situation can look different. I don’t know how many derbies I’ve had now – quite a few – but it’s always difficult here.
Liverpool also suffered yet more injury concerns in the match as Fabio Carvalho was forced off.
Klopp added: “Fabio Carvalho – we all think it’s the muscle above the knee, with a massive dead leg. It’s very painful. Probably Thiago can train on Monday, but that’s just two days’ training [before Napoli in the Champions League]. The situation is like it is.”
Van Dijk rues more dropped points
Meanwhile, Virgil van Dijk fears Liverpool dropped more vital points after gaining only one at Goodison.
He told Match of the Day: “It was an intense game – a game that we feel we lost points. Hitting the post and the crossbar, we could’ve done better in this case but we have to accept there were good moments and moments for improvement. We’re still early in the season so we want to improve and we know we can.
Right until the bitter end! 💪
Jordan Pickford comes up with a HUGE performance to keep Liverpool out and earn Everton a point at Goodison Park. pic.twitter.com/HAarf0LLlb
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 3, 2022
“They had two big moments, with Alisson making a few saves and offside is offside, if we count our opportunities I think we should’ve won the game and unfortunately we didn’t.
“It’s about winning games, and we didn’t win as much as we would like to. We have 32 games left and everyone can have their opinion but we have players coming back from injury and hopefully everyone can stay fit and we try to get some wins.
“The expectation is high, we are one of the biggest clubs in the world so that will always be the case so we have to enjoy it too.”
