Thiago Alcantara accepted Liverpool have to do 'much better' in their quest to retain the Premier League title.

The Reds played out a goalless draw with arch-rivals Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday as summer signing Thiago made his home debut for the club.

After a promising display during the opening 45 minutes, the hosts required several key saves from Alisson Becker to deny United maximum points in the second half.

The result means Liverpool remain three points behind the leaders with almost half of the campaign played – and Thiago acknowledged the need for improvement after four games without a win in the top flight.

Speaking post-match, the midfielder also reflected on how the contest unfolded, his maiden appearance at Anfield for the Reds and more.

Read a summary of his chat with Liverpoolfc.com below…

On sharing the points…

Without winning, we are never satisfied. We made a superb first half, then the second half was 50-50. We are happy in some way with our performance – how we did in some moments of the game – but we have to do much better to be on top of the league.

On being disappointed that chances weren’t turned into goals…

Sure, because we were intense, we were creating the chances that made us closer to winning. When we didn’t realise and didn’t make the goals, we’re just getting our self-confidence a bit down and that’s why the game changed a bit. At the end, it’s football and in some minutes of the game you are in high emotions and sometimes you are low – it’s part of the game.

On the defensive display, with two midfielders at centre-back…

They did great in every position, they are so versatile. And in the end, if in some actions we can’t defend as we have to, we have a great goalkeeper there behind. There were lots of great saves.

On making his debut at Anfield, though without fans in attendance…

At the end, we have the privilege to play football, to keep having our work, our love: that is playing football here. And we have to defend the desire of the people to be here. We have to play for them because it’s a hard moment for all of us. For sure, with fans everything is different.

On his second-half strike that was saved by David de Gea…

You shoot, thinking that it’s going in. But they also have a great goalkeeper there. We had plenty of chances to score and we didn’t, that’s why we are in this position now.

On being confident goals will return for Liverpool soon…

Sure, look at the guys we have in front – not just the big three, let’s say that. We have Div, we have Shaq, we have Taki, we have many players that can score, people in the midfield that can score as well, people from the defence can score. It’s a matter of creating the chances that we are creating to be effective.