'Too many changes' - Jurgen Klopp takes blame for Liverpool's Europa League defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise

Liverpool were second best throughout their final Europa League group stage match in Belgium, with the Reds landing just two shots in the entire 90 minutes. Klopp made nine changes to his starting XI from the match against Crystal Palace last weekend, choosing to give Conor Bradley, Luke Chambers, Ben Doak and Kaide Gordon a run out.

The manager feels his alterations made things more difficult for his team, telling LUTV: "I think it was a deserved win for Royal Union. For rhythm I probably made too many changes. The goals we conceded were not necessary. We could have scored the equaliser in the last minutes, maybe three times."

Klopp added in a press conference: "I think we definitely all saw the same game, so for us it was a deserved win for Union. Even though I heard now the first goal might have been offside but nobody can tell properly. We will see that, but who cares?"

Liverpool had already secured their place in the knockout rounds as group winners, having taken 12 points from their previous five matches. The Anfield side are already dealing with severe injury troubles, as Joel Matip, Diogo Jota, Alexis Mac Allister and Andy Robertson are all unavailable.

Klopp's decision to rest the likes of Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander, among others, was likely also motivated by his team's Premier League match against Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday.