Origi: “Stay Together and Finish Well”

A draw against Manchester United on Sunday meant that Liverpool lost a point on Chelsea, and on that side of the ledger it’s a result that only seems to put a serious title challenge this season further out of reach. Six weeks ago, following a loss to Bournemouth, Liverpool found themselves four back after 14 games.

Now they’re seven back after 21 games, the gap wider and with fewer chances to close it. Despite that, striker Divock Origi isn’t giving up hope. And to help keep things positive, he’s also looking behind Liverpool, where Sunday’s draw importantly prevented Manchester United from making up any ground on them.

“Of course we are still in the early stage of the season, but it's important to get the maximum points and to stay ahead of other teams,” Origi noted. “I think it's very tight above, but you just have to look at it game by game. There's still a lot of big games, important games, so we have to stay together and finish well.”

A draw means United stays five back of Liverpool. It also added to the gap between the Reds and Manchester City following that side’s shock defeat at the hands of Everton, a result that sees Pep Guardiola’s team in fifth and facing the very real possibility that they could end the season out of the Champions League places.

Still, given Liverpool carried a lead late into the second half, Origi—like his teammates, manage Jürgen Klopp, and fans—was disappointed not to get three points that would have expanded their lead on United and made the gap between the Reds and Chelsea seem just a little more manageable.

“It's a little bit of a disappointment because we obviously wanted to win,” Origi added. “In some parts of the game we were very strong and in some parts we had to be more positive. It was an intense game, so I think we have to analyse the game after to see what was good and what was bad.”