Manchester United came off second best against Liverpool on Sunday night after yet another
lacklustre performance.
Ten Hag probably was trying to ease Amad into team while adding responsibility to a senior player in
Rashford who’s not found form yet. Handing de Ligt his full debut was also a call most fans were
crying out for although Maguire hadn’t done much wrong to be dropped to the bench.
A decent start. A casemiro collapse
United kicked the game off with high intensity crisp, sharp passing. We won back balls high up the pitch, although until Trebt Alexander-Arnold did fire a warning shot with a disallowed goal. Liverpool kept giving away the ball in dangerous areas but the home side failed to register a single shot until the half hour mark. United kept losing the ball too easily in attack without applying much pressure in squeezing, stretching the defence or moving from side to side with patience.
With the game looking fairly even, two terrible Casemiro errors gifted Luis Diaz and Liverpool two goals before half time, the first one being an awful first-time pass and the second coming after he was bundled off the ball.
Whether by design or just a mistake, the failure to register Manuel Ugarte in time was looking more and more significant.
A second half with no real improvement
United went in 2-0 down at half-time, and with no like-for-like reinforcements on the bench, 20-year-old Toby Collyer came on to make his debut in the second half. Now that was definitely a big call by Erik Ten Hag.
United came fully undone in the second half. Onana’s distribution was one of the very few bright spots but the players were caught waiting for the ball to come to them. Liverpool appeared in full control and United didn’t look assertive enough. The red devils were not clinical in both boxes and poor in tight spaces as time went on.
Rashford was especially lethargic in press. He arguably also created United’s two best chances to score that couldn’t be finished off by Zirkzee. It’s great that Joshua calls himself a 9.5 but he’s having to do more tracking back than venturing forward. United’s easy giveaways were punished with so much of open space in the box again, and Salah scored to make it 3-0 and to cement his record of scoring more goals at Old Trafford than any other visiting player.
Liverpool can be a difficult team to break down by passing through the lines and that is where momentum in attack matters. Every time there were red shirts forward, they were quickly seen slowing down or cutting back inside, even with a chance to keep the threat alive. Hardly ever United try to take on a Liverpool defender or run at them. Every time United ventured forward, they also looked exposed at the back. It sadly never looked at any point that United was coming back into the contest. Liverpool players looked faster and fitter. They didn’t even take off any of their midfielders till the final whistle.
That left back spot defensively appears glaringly concerning and far post errors yet again cost United the third goal and the match.
Numerous areas for concern
In big games such as this one, set pieces can be such an incisive tool and United had corners starting from the first minute of the game. That area still needs ton of work. Last season, United lost 9 league games at home, our worst record in history. Last time that had transpired was during the 1970s. Erik ten Hag is the first Manchester United manager to lose two of the club’s first three games of a Premier League campaign on multiple occasions, one to a 31 year old manager in charge of his second game and the other to a manager in charge of his third game in the league.
We had also lost 14 league games last year and have already lost 2/3 this year, the last two consecutively, but what hurts more is losing at home, at Old Trafford, to bitter rivals Liverpool.
The victory made Arne Slot the first Liverpool manager to win his first away league game against Manchester United in 88 years. It was not a shocking stat considering we had won just one of 13 the matches against Liverpool before this at home. Erik ten Hag is the only Manchester United manager to have lost three Premier League home games by at least three goals in the space of a year. We had finished 22 points behind Liverpool last season and the fans were desperate for a much braver reaction. Yet, here we are with the same goal difference and in the same position as we were in ten Hag’s first season in charge two years ago.
What’s next for United?
With two away games after the International break and a home game against Spurs after that, if there was ever a time to demonstrate process, project, performance or results, it is now. Patience is wearing thin and time is running out especially after favourable ownership changes, board and backroom staff restructuring and also considerable investment in the recent transfer window. United were the only team not to score this weekend so any green shoots of positivity must be translated into goals. So hopefully the only way is up from here.
Buckle up folks, it’s going to be a rough and a long ride. A part of me is already singing, “Wake me up when September ends”….