Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes protesting Manchester United supporters helped Liverpool towards victory at Old Trafford.
The Reds kept alive hopes of Champions League qualification with a remarkable 4-2 win at their bitter North West rivals on Thursday.
After going behind to an early Nat Phillips own goal, a clever flick from Diogo Jota and a brace from Roberto Firmino put Jurgen Klopp’s side in control.
Marcus Rashford reduced arrears only for Mohamed Salah to net in injury time to secure Liverpool’s first win at United since 2014.
United’s players had stayed at Old Trafford before the game rather than their usual team hotel after supporters had planned a repeat of the protests that forced the fixture to be postponed 11 days ago.
And Solskjaer said: “The preparation has been different but we aren’t going to make an excuse with that.
“We prepare a certain way in every game but couldn’t do that today.
“It’s probably affected them (the players) a little it but none of the players have made an excuse of it.
“The players handled the situation well, none have been complaining and they just got on to it.
“There was no point losing energy over what you can’t control.”
Liverpool are now in fifth place, four points off fourth-placed Chelsea with a game in hand and a further two points adrift of Leicester City in third.
And of the game, Solskjaer added: “It’s a disappointing result and performance, especially in periods.
“We did well in long spells but we didn’t capitalise on those good periods and conceded goals at very, very bad times of the game, just before half-time was a kick in the teeth and just after second half started was just another kick in the teeth.
“We had momentum and big chances at 3-2 to get back into the game properly and didn’t take them.
“We have conceded too many goals from set-pieces this season. For the third goal, we want to play out but there were two or three mistakes and it cost us a goal.
“Football would be really boring if nobody made a mistake. That’s the whole idea of it, you try to eradicate them and work on them but we’ve conceded too many goals and could have avoided some of them, especially the timings of them.”
