Jurgen Klopp admits to focusing on the positives following Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Manchester United, which saw them surrender first place to Arsenal.

The Reds had surpassed the Gunners at the top of the table after a last-minute win over Crystal Palace last weekend. However, when Mikel Arteta’s team defeated Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 earlier in the day, Liverpool missed out on the opportunity to leapfrog them by surrendering points to United.

Klopp’s men actually had 34 shots against the Red Devils, which was the Reds’ greatest number in a Premier League match since scoring began in 2003/04. As a result, despite the poor result, the German stated he was delighted with his team’s performance.

“Besides the result, there are a lot of positives about this game,” he told reporters. “You could say that the decisive, scoring stuff was missing today.”

“Perhaps unlucky in one or two moments, and not calm enough in others.” Too hurried, but the start of a game was the greatest we’d had all season. This season’s counter-press was the greatest. The intensity was incredible.

“And the number of finishes is outstanding, but with this many finishes, you should have had a few more on target.” That’s another thing that was clearly lacking.

“The goal, if we had scored it at any point in time, would have changed everything because they were obviously not here to lose in any way.” They battled hard for it, and they deserve praise.

“So we had no choice but to keep going.” We tried almost everything, changed systems, brought in new players, and it all could have worked out if we had just made one better decision.

“We were really unlucky with the Trent finish, Onana didn’t even factor that in because it was just, it didn’t make sense, if the ball rolls in, it’s in.” However, it rolls on the incorrect side of the post.

“If Ibou was in these situations more often, I believe he could have scored there.” We could have used the overlap more in other circumstances where we finished and took the shot. We have to use a guy who would have been available in the center.

“The way United defended was passionate.” The style we played regularly disorganized them. But they didn’t see it since they were deep in the box and put themselves in the box for a lot of shots.

“If a team defends like this, there is always a free player because two men want to block the ball, it means somebody else is probably free and we didn’t see that and that is why we drew the game.”

When asked about the title battle after his team dropped points, Klopp was dismissive, saying it’s far too early to think about such implications.

“I couldn’t really be interested to be honest,” he told me. “I’m glad we’re in this position, but I’m not sure why we’re opening that discussion, that bottle, this early.”

“It’s December, the most difficult month of the year. Everyone has to go through it in some way. To get through it, everyone has to dig deep.

“When you’re still in cup competitions, it doesn’t make life any easier.” Arsenal are off for a week. We play West Ham in midweek, which is certainly not a friendly game. It’s a quarter-final match.

“It’s all difficult, so get through it and open your eyes again in April to see where you’re at.” Then I’d be delighted to talk about it. But I’m not worried right now because we didn’t win today.

“We must all relearn how to deal with the situation.” Nobody expected us to show up. I didn’t consider it, which indicates I considered it but didn’t give it any attention. We’ve arrived at our destination. We must now ensure that no bad consequences result from this.

“Perhaps in a game, we think we should already do that or be there. Because of our performances, we are exactly where we belong.

“I don’t really understand it when we talk about ourselves and say, ‘OK, the performances in these moments aren’t that convincing.'” It is my responsibility to identify areas where we can improve, and we are aware of this.

“Of course, we can get better. We are now in a scenario where we are quite dissatisfied because we drew against United. It’s strange, but that’s how it is, and it’s all right. We are the position to which we are entitled; from here, we will see.

“For today, if we take the right things out of this game, it was a huge game.” We played the best counter-press with this squad.

“We had to return several times for various reasons.” Tonight, we were on from the first whistle, which is also very crucial. So that’s all good.

“So it’s another step when you’re that intense and then make the right and calm decisions in critical moments.” We’ll see what we can do in that regard.”