Jurgen Klopp made major mistake as Liverpool left with nothing but regrets after Man Utd defeat

In a thrilling FA Cup loss, Liverpool let Manchester United off the hook even though they had them exactly where they wanted them. It is evident that Liverpool’s Old Trafford Cup curse is still very much alive.

Despite all the talk of omens and portents, which suggest that the weight of history was always against the Reds winning here—it would have been the team’s first away victory against Manchester United in a knockout round—the past doesn’t mean that the team’s chances of winning a quadruple are over. Rather, Liverpool’s FA Cup quarterfinal elimination was mostly their own fault. There were considerably more nerves than there should have been since after winning this match multiple times, Jurgen Klopp’s team invited United to wriggle back into the tie. Yes, there was a terrible first quarter in which United unexpectedly caught the visitors off guard by attacking them from the start. Although Liverpool led 2-1 at the half, their dominance for a solid thirty minutes in the second half highlighted the stark disparity in quality between the two sides that has been evident in the Premier League this season. But the third goal failed to materialize, possibly due to carelessness in some finishing, excellent goalkeeping by Andre Onana, or, dare I say it, a hint of complacency.
During that period, Klopp’s replacements mainly caused Liverpool to regress instead of advance. Conor Bradley struggled against Alejandro Garnacho, Harvey Elliott surrendered the pass that resulted in United’s late victory, and Cody Gakpo was by no means as effective as Mohamed Salah. And given how certain Liverpool players severely exhausted during extra time, fingers will undoubtedly be pointed at the number of minutes some players accrued during Thursday’s Europa League walkover against Sparta Prague. United had a full week to prepare because of their incompetence in Europe this season, and it finally showed.
In fact, as Klopp subsequently acknowledged, this was a game too far for a team that had managed to challenge on four fronts while being plagued by injuries (Ibrahim Konate was not available for this match). For Liverpool fans of a certain era, losing an FA Cup match at Old Trafford in the final seconds after leading for significant chunks of the match was, of course, nothing new. I’ve been thinking about 1999 a lot lately.
Although they couldn’t really complain about anything that day, Liverpool’s main feeling as they made the quick trip down the M62 this time will have been regret rather than disappointment.
Even though past events suggested that it was a real possibility, this shouldn’t have happened. Klopp will not be managing Liverpool at Wembley any longer.