Liverpool vs Manchester United Overview

This game was being built up as a cakewalk for Liverpool and, in fairness, for good reason. United were in a bad run of form, had crashed out of Europe, and had a mounting injury list. The previous meeting between these sides at Anfield was that now famous 7-0 drubbing, so fans were dreaming of a repeat. Personally I never take points for granted against Manchester United or Everton, because these derbies are local and fierce, and you never know how that will affect the on pitch action. As it was United were ultra-defensive for the most part and it felt like Liverpool were playing against relegation candidates scrapping for a point. It is testament to either the fear Liverpool have instilled in other teams, or the pressure Ten Hag was feeling, but it meant this was a one-sided affair from first whistle to last.

Manchester United

They sat deep, very deep, packed the center, and made life difficult for Liverpool. They had maybe 3 passages of dangerous play the entire game: Alexander-Arnold took the ball off Garnacho at the last second in the first, Alisson saved well from Hojlund in the second, and Rashford fizzed a dangerous low cross into the box that was cleared, but that was pretty much everything United offered. I would probably pick Varane as their man of the match and he was very good, I do not think a clean sheet would have been forthcoming if he did not play. I think Mainoo looked very assured in midfield as well, United look like they have a good young talent there. It is difficult to assess a teams quality when they play so negatively and passively but, to their credit, and to fault Liverpool, there were never enough clear chances to truly worry them. It is a successful result for United as they came with a game plan to stifle Liverpool and it worked. Nunez, Salah and Diaz never had the space in behind to run into and that neutralised a lot of the threats they can pose. I think United fans will be content with this score but that is a testament to how far they have fallen, and how much lower they have set the bar for themselves.

Liverpool

An extremely one-sided performance in which they enjoyed the lions share of possession, the lions share of chances, but whose mouse-like meekness in the final third meant they never did enough with it. Onana made some decent, but what I would call expected, saves. Given how jittery his form has been, it was surprising that he was not tested more. Tactically I think we had everything reasonably…