Jurgen Klopp has highlighted Manchester United’s penalty record in a critique of referee Andre Marriner.
Monday’s loss at Southampton marked a third win-less Premier League outing for Liverpool ahead of their January 17 clash with the Old Trafford outfit.
Should Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side avoid defeat to Burnley next week, the Reds will surrender top spot in the league before taking on their arch-rivals.
But despite his team’s sub-par performance at St Mary’s, Klopp believes Kyle Walker-Peters’ clash with Sadio Mane on the hour mark warranted a penalty.
Marriner, the match official, consulted VAR but chose not to award a spot-kick, which left the Liverpool manager somewhat bemused post-match.
“We had a really good view of it,” said Klopp.
“I turned around to the fourth official and said ‘will you check it?’ and he said ‘we checked it already, no penalty’. That’s the 100 per cent truth.
“Now somebody wants to tell me how quick they had all the different angles, but it’s 100% they checked it already, no pen.
“We had moments last year when we had the penalty against Leicester, Sadio Mane was [accused by some people of] going down easy.
“If this boy would go down easy then we would have had in the last game [at Newcastle] a stonewall penalty.
“What Andre Marriner did with Sadio Mane tonight, I’m not sure that’s okay, to be honest.
“The boy tried absolutely everything. There were a lot of situations that should have been free-kicks as well.
“The last situation when he goes down, you see that back, he hits him with the left foot and it’s another penalty. But we cannot change that now.”
“I heard now that Manchester United have had more penalties in two years when Ole is there [as manager] than I have in five-and-a-half years.
“I have no idea if it’s my fault, I have no idea how that can happen. But it’s no excuse for the performance of tonight.
“That’s something we can change, and that’s where we will put all the effort in now.”
Although his side largely dictated the second half, Klopp had to wait until the 75th minute for Liverpool’s first registered shot on target against the Saints.
With their win-less run now stretching into the New Year, the German did not shy away from the panic that their recent downturn in form has caused.
He added: “Of course we worry.
“We are not silly. We have to show a reaction [in the games ahead], 100 per cent. Southampton deserved it; they ran their socks off.
“I know they are great guys, super boys, fantastic players, but tonight they should have done better. So I get angry. They know this.
“We don’t have to make it bigger than it is, but it’s big. It’s mainly my fault, but the boys had a hand as well, & we have to change that.”