"Beginning of March, who cares?" – Jurgen Klopp says now is not the time to panic

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists there is no need to panic after falling behind in the title race.

A goalless draw in the 233rd Merseyside derby at Goodison Park left the Reds two points behind Manchester City, meaning for the first time since December the outcome of the Premier League is no longer in their hands.

“The only way that you can win something is to stay calm but lively, critical but confident, and in the end believe in your chance,” said Klopp.

“I believe 100 per cent in our chance.

“Beginning of March, who cares? The good thing is we are in that battle, that’s really good news. My feeling is more and more we are really prepared for it.”

The German, however, bristled at suggestions he did not go for the win against Everton as aggressively as he might have done.

But said he did not care about the league position with more than two months of the season remaining.

“We don’t play PlayStation. Do you think we didn’t take enough risks? That’s a really disappointing question, I have to say,” was Klopp’s response.

“There are nine games to go, we don’t lose our nerve like you obviously. It’s the second time you ask a question I really don’t get.

“There’s not a moment where we say, ‘Come on now, throw everything in that direction’. You cannot play in the Premier League like that.

“We take all the risks but you cannot take more than 100 per cent risk, going nuts.

“I don’t think I have to give my players advice because they know it already. We are not little boys any more.”

Liverpool had just three shots on target out of a total of 10 attempts, the best two falling to Mohamed Salah who was denied first by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and then a perfectly-timed interception by Michael Keane.

Everton boss Marco Silva was pleased with the way his side restricted Liverpool to so few chances.

“The match was really tough, like we expected,” he said.

“They had a big chance with Salah in the first half after one moment when we lost the ball, not something they created because they didn’t create big moments to score.

“We didn’t give them a chance to create anything and in the second half we should have had more chances to score.

“We wanted to give our fans the three points but we couldn’t. When you cannot win you cannot give a chance for our opponent to win and a clean sheet is important for us.”