In an exciting match on Sunday Manchester United battled back to earn a 1-1 draw with visitors Liverpool at Old Trafford. Zlatan Ibrahimovic came up with the all important equaliser for the hosts with just six minutes to play, after James Milner had fired in from the penalty spot in the first half.
Sky Sports Pundit Jamie Carragher said that the absence of Sadio Mane – away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal was felt by Klopp’s side and it could have made a big difference. He said “It’s another game where you think if they’d had Mane playing for Liverpool, even late on in the game on that counter-attack, [he could have made a difference]. “Divock Origi was giving the ball away that much that he had to come off and he’s the only one with pace in that front three of Lallana, Origi and Roberto Firmino. They don’t really penetrate behind. But if Mane had played it would have made a massive difference.”
Jurgen Klopp is definitely not happy as Klopp’s side are two points further behind Premier League leaders Chelsea than they were at the start of the weekend after the Blues win at Leicester on Saturday.
While Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville at full time said “Liverpool are a lot closer in the title race than Manchester United in this moment in time and they can be happier with a point today, away from home.” “The challenge for Liverpool is these games they’ve got coming thick and fast,” said Neville. “They’ve got a big run coming up. They put an incredible amount of effort into that game today and it’s interesting to see whether they can repeat that with the disrupted weeks they have over the next few weeks.
Neville believes that Manchester United is on right path but the talk of title is far too premature for Mourinho’s improving team. He said, “United, at this moment in time are quite a few points away from that [the top],”“They’ve got to make the major step to get into the top four and break into that first, before they can start to think about the title. “But they’re on the right track. It looks more like a United team, even though they haven’t played well today. The start of the season was poor but now they’re on a run, they’re difficult to beat and they don’t roll over.
