Monday was farcical in many ways. Everyone seemed shocked that United could go from being trounced by Brentford one week, to going toe-to-toe with Liverpool and winning the next week.
Of course they were going to respond. It doesn’t take a great degree of bravery or ambition to come out fighting against a severely weakened Liverpool side at home. As Jurgen Klopp said, it probably would have been preferable had they won 4-0 the previous week, rather than lost.
It’s useless to make comparisons and say things like “Brentford smashed them 4-0, why can’t Liverpool do the same?”- this was not the same United team. Had they played like that on Monday, Liverpool would have won easily, that should be obvious.
Their response was inevitable. The whole thing was predictable- even someone as useless at predictions as me, messaged a friend at half time to say that Man United will go 2-0 up within two minutes of the second half, then Liverpool will pull one back, but ultimately lose.
All credit to Man United, but I would urge their fans not to get ahead of themselves. Or in Gary Neville’s case, spare the orgasms for another day. The performance was a lot better, and there was certainly a lot more fight, but it shouldn’t paper over the cracks, of which there were still a lot on display.
Man United took advantage of a weak Liverpool performance, in which the Reds caved into the pressure. Man United were walking through Liverpool in that first half, whereas watching Klopp’s side try to mount an attack was like trying to watch someone climb Everest in flip flops.
The first goal is the one of the worst I’ve seen Liverpool concede in my life. And I’ve seen Dejan Lovren boot the ball in James Milners face only for it to deflect in their own goal, in a champions league semi final. I’ve then seen Loris Karius throw the ball at Benzema in the biggest game in club football.
Henderson completely unnecessarily loses possession. The ball is dropping, and all he has to do is bring it down and look for a pass. Instead, he plays a nothing ball, a mini hoof, in a position where Liverpool are vulnerable to a counter attack. Inevitably, the attack arrives, and Milner puts his body on the line.
Yes, maybe one would say he gets mugged off, but I would rather that than what van Dijk does. Milner was absolutely right to yell at the number four. The defending was embarrassing. Mistakes are one thing, but it just looked like he couldn’t be arsed.
Alexander-Arnold is even worse. He nonchalantly strolls towards the soon to be goal scorer Sancho, as if he was walking down a shopping aisle in Asda. Players make errors, and they have bad games, but there is absolutely no excuse for lack of commitment. Had a Liverpool player been in Sancho’s position, a Man United defender would have been sprinting and sliding to stop the goal. That was the difference.
The issue is, Trent can’t be dropped. No matter how badly he plays, there is no alternative solution that makes sense. I don’t like that safety. Players should be fighting for their place. Unfortunately, the reason certain players aren’t currently, is due to awful luck with injuries.
Henderson makes another similar and crucial error for the second goal, which really is the killer blow. The midfield role at Liverpool is ultra high pressure- lose the ball in the wrong position, and there’s a good chance you’re giving away a huge opportunity. The skipper is succumbing to that pressure, and needs to be dropped, but again, it is very difficult to drop him given the injuries.
The main issue going forward was the gap between the front three and the goal. Firmino was essentially operating as a midfielder, which is what he tends to do, but the Reds attack was blunted by how far apart Salah and Diaz were from the goal. Liverpool have scored at least four goals the last three times they have played Man United, but their play on Monday couldn’t have been further away from those performances.
To end on a positive note, it’s worth noting how promising Harvey Elliot and Fabio Carvalho look. The Portuguese midfielder is reminiscent of a certain Phil Coutinho, and Elliot looks he could be a really important part of this team very soon.
Joe Gomez looked like his old self again, and I don’t believe he was at fault for Rashford’s goal. I still think it looked offside. But Liverpool only have themselves to blame. They will probably bounce back with a win over a very poor Bournemouth side, but the Cherries will be smelling blood.
Dan's Mersey Blog 