Liverpool put on a stunning display at Old Trafford on Sunday, as they pumped Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United with five goals, which included a hat-trick from the recently, inevitable Mohamed Salah. Early goals from Naby Keita and Diogo Jota set the tone for the iconic tie and raised further questions about the future of Solskjaer at the club.
For all Liverpool’s praise, United were clueless on the day and tactically handed the authority of the game to Liverpool. Klopp opted to replace Sadio Mane with Diogo Jota and Joel Matip with Ibrahima Konate whereas Ole went with his usual 4-2-3-1, with the surprise subbing of Paul Pogba. These changes in the teams soon became irrelevant. United’s strange decision to press Liverpool in the early stages was the beginning of the end. It nearly proved a success, when Bruno Fernandes’ squandered a great opportunity from close range, blazing his effort into over Alisson’s bar. Although a reasonable approach to fending off Klopp’s machine, United do not have the personal and now alarmingly the coaching to operate in such a system. Their erratic pressing game was easily dismantled by Liverpool, who following the concession of that early chance from Fernandes, began breaking United’s push at will. Creating a 2v1 against Wan-Bissaka on the left seemed the most effective, but in truth United’s entire unit in defensive transition was confusing. This was the platform by which Liverpool went about scoring their flurry of goals, with the catastrophic display from United being was so obvious that a barrage from Liverpool was inevitable. For their first goal, Liverpool didn’t do too much, they merely passed through United’s press, drawing Lindelof and Maguire across to Robertson and Jota who were isolating Wan-Bissaka on every attack. The ball was helped onto Salah who noticed the gaping space he had in front of him, with only Luke Shaw in his path followed by several Liverpool runners. Naby Keita was one who piled forward in support and was found by the Egyptian before calmly slotting past De Gea. The goal was emphatically constructed, but United were all over the place and against a team like Liverpool they were bound to concede. The second was not so much about United’s press, or like of, but a comedic mix-up between Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw. Robertson floated an aimless ball into the final third, which Maguire intended to deal with, only for Shaw to take the initiative too and collide with his captain. Keita pounced on the collapse and swept the ball out wide to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who fired the ball across the six where Jota prodded home at the back post. James Milner was behind Jota as another scoring option, illuminating the destructive defending from United. Wan-Bissaka again was nowhere to be seen as a result of United’s confusion when without the ball. Milner looked to have injured himself in that lunge to score and was replaced by Curtis Jones.
Two goals in thirteen minutes for Liverpool was followed by a controlled display which should have produced more goals, with Roberto Firmino seeing his effort saved by De Gea at close range. The third arrived just after the half-hour mark, this time a tad fortunate, although still partly due to United’s static play. Salah’s shot at the edge of the box deflected inadvertently to Keita on the far side of the area. He had the freedom of the box to decide on a pass and choose the onrushing Salah, who viciously tore beyond the United bodies to tap home. His desire to get into the box was of stark contrast to United’s refusal to react to the situation at hand. United’s players looked depleted, with the forward line of Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes mere spectators to the mayhem. Salah’s second and Liverpool’s fourth came just before the first half, all but summarizing the first 45 minutes in doing so. Firmino was found outside the box and was met by three United players in Maguire, Fred and McTominay. None of them won the tackle with the Brazilian who squirmed a pass onto Jota who ran across United’s chasing defense and teed up Salah, who clinically struck past De Gea at his near post. The damage was done and Ole was left to assess the damage in what was probably a quite damning experience for the Norwegian legend. His tactics had not worked and what was a brilliant display from Liverpool was equally a disastrous setup from Manchester United.
Solskjaer’s reaction was to send on Paul Pogba, many can speculate as to why but more than likely to try and offer some sort of rest bite from Liverpool’s relentless attacks. Five minutes into the second half and his introduction was heinous. Pogba tried to put his foot on the ball following a short pass from Fred but was quickly swarmed by Henderson and Keita. His adjustment to the game was way off. Henderson delivered a quite stunning pass with the outside of his boot to send Salah through on goal. His exquisite dink over De Gea completed his hat-trick, making him the first ever Premier League player to do so, following up on his new accolade of being the record African scorer in the league too. Pogba was sent on to offer some effortless talent as Salah was exuberating but was soon sent off on the hour mark following a high tackle on Naby Keita. His display seemed like a response to not being picked for the tie, but it also summed up United on what was becoming an infamous day for the club. Liverpool backed off in the next half-hour of the game, with their control over the game and the man advantage allowing them to dictate proceedings. Their focus did deteriorate slightly when Ronaldo picked up the ball in Liverpool’s area and shimmied around Alexander-Arnold and Konate, before rifling past Alisson only for VAR to rule it out for such a tight offside on the Portuguese. This truly hit the nail in the coffin at Old Trafford. Liverpool nearly scored six when TAA’s fierce drive from outside the box was amazingly tipped over by the hapless David De Gea, who was probably the only United player free from serious criticisms. Virgil Van Dijk and debutant Ibrahima Konate were not of much mention today, largely because of United’s toothless attacks but also because of their authority over proceedings. They were fabulous, as were Liverpool as a unit, with both performances portraying the current state of play between the two sides. Liverpool saw out the game comfortably and created quite an eerie atmosphere within the ground as Ole and his players are left to wonder what happens now. For Liverpool, their acknowledgement in the title race has been asserted beyond doubt, whereas United’s loose claims to it are all but crumbling. We won’t know the future of Ole until next week at least but the nerves will certainly be high for the United stalwart, with his time at the club on borrowed time.
Liverpool will look ahead to Brighton at Anfield next week, which will be a tricky fixture even off the back of such a commanding victory over their archrivals. For United, it doesn’t get easier in the form of an away trip to Tottenham. Undoubtedly, United can’t perform this badly again and there's no doubt of a reaction, although that is a brave statement given United’s recent performances. Will Ole Gunnar Solskjaer be pitch side next Saturday or will United put faith in one of their own once again, despite one of the most humiliating defeats in the club’s history?
MATCH RATINGS.
Manchester United.
David De Gea- 6 Aaron Wan-Bissaka- 3 Harry Maguire- 3 Victor Lindelof- 4 Luke Shaw- 3 Fred- 4 Scott McTominay- 4 Mason Greenwood- 4 Bruno Fernandes- 5 Marcus Rashford- 5 Cristiano Ronaldo- 5
SUBS.
Paul Pogba- 2 Diogo Dalot- 5 Edinson Cavani- 5
Liverpool.
Alisson- 6 Trent Alexander-Arnold- 8 Virgil Van Dijk- 8 Ibrahima Konate- 7 Andrew Robertson- 8 Jordan Henderson- 7 James Milner- 6 Naby Keita- 9 Diogo Jota- 8 Roberto Firmino- 8 Mohamed Salah- 9
SUBS.
Curtis Jones- 7 Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain- 6 Sadio Mane- 6
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