1 September 2024
Man Utd 0 Liverpool 3
Erik ten Hag’s side welcomed their bitter rivals to Old Trafford as Liverpool rode into town. There had been an air of optimism in Manchester at the start of the season but that had been dented by defeat against Brighton. They had the perfect opportunity to bounce back by beating Arne Slot’s side who until this point of the season had a perfect record to defend.
Pundits and ex-players seem to have been hypnotised by United’s FA Cup final win over Man City. They spoke about how the Red Devils had ‘closed the gap’ and how they had turned the corner. Overlooking the fact that nothing had really changed, the manager is failing to get his players firing despite spending over £600m to build his squad, with half of his Ajax side joining him.
De Ligt has been to Juventus and Bayern Munich since last working under the Dutch manager. In both stints he became a first team regular before falling out of favour and finding himself on the bench. He found it impossible to even force a starting berth in Netherlands Euro 2024 side. Yet now all you hear is that he is answer to their defensive woes. History has a tendency to repeat itself.
Liverpool got into their stride early and Gravenberch walked his way through the hosts’ midfield before feeding it to Diaz out wide. He got to the byline and cut the ball back for Alexander Arnold to drill a shot at goal. It seemed to be cleared off the line but the referee’s watch said otherwise. Sadly for the visitors the celebrations were short-lived as it was ruled out for offside.
Slot’s side looked comfortable in possession for the entire half and dominated the game but did not have a goal to show for it. The Reds’ fans were getting a déjà vu feeling from that FA Cup game where they should have been out of sight before the Red Devils even had a chance to come back into it, let alone win the match. Lightning was threatening to strike again.
Casemiro played a loose pass which was cut out by the impressive Gravenberch. He played Salah in down the right, who clipped a ball into the back post where two Liverpool players were queueing up for the ball. Szoboszlai left it for Diaz, who headed into the top corner to give the visitors a deserved lead. The away end erupted as you would expect in such a contest.
On a rare counter, Fernandes looked to cross into the box but it was half-cleared, falling to Mazraoui. His shot went through the legs of van Dijk but Alisson made a good save to deny ten Hag’s side. It was as close as Man Utd had come to giving their fans something to shout about. They had been second best all over the park, despite what ten Hag would have you believe.
Casemiro was pickpocketed once again as the ball was worked out to Salah, his pass found Diaz, whose first-time shot found the bottom corner of the goal. Arne Slot’s first trip to Old Trafford was seeming to be a walk in the park. The Theatre of Dreams is proving to be just that since Fergie’s era, but now it is the away sides who are ‘living the dream’.
Man Utd carved out the first chance of the second-half when Collyer headed down to Zirkzee, who looked to bend one in the far corner but Alisson was equal to it, as he tipped the effort around the post. It was far more positive from the Red Devils but Liverpool knew there would be periods where they would have to stand firm to pressure from the hosts.
Mainoo was then muscled off the ball by Mac Allister who found Szoboszlai with his pass. The Reds found themselves with a four on two overload as the Hungarian played it into the path of Salah. The ‘Egyptian King’ struck a first-time shot in the bottom corner to surely seal victory, despite there still being over half an hour of this game left to play.
At this point, the travelling fans started a rendition of ‘ten Hag’s at the wheel’. No Liverpool manager had won their first game against Man Utd since Bob Paisley, that was surely going to change. The Reds looked like they were going to score every time they came forward in this game. In the Sky Sports gantry, Gary Neville had sunk back into his chair, wishing he was at a Salford game instead.
Mohamed Salah has scored in each of his last seven games at Old Trafford. When Martinez played the ball to him, the Egyptian ran towards goal and cut inside onto his left foot, before putting his shot surprisingly over the crossbar. It really should have been Liverpool’s fourth goal of the day, if not more, they were controlling this game with ease.
The visitors started playing some sumptuous passing with the hosts not able to get a foot on the ball. It resulted in Salah looking to bend one in the far corner and it narrowly missed the target, with Onana scrambling across his goal in vain. Sir Alex Ferguson was in the stands watching and this must have been painful to see as it was mainly one-way traffic from the visitors.
Erik ten Hag’s side managed to carve out one real opportunity to give them a glimmer of hope when Rashford’s cross picked out Zirkzee. Despite being six yards out, in the middle of the goal, his header was saved brilliantly by Alisson. As Liverpool countered, De Ligt wiped out Diaz as he threatened to skip past him. The Dutchman was shown a yellow card for his troubles.
Arne Slot’s side should have added another when Bradley found Szoboszlai in the box, but he seemed to want to walk it into the goal and the chance was gone. Liverpool took all three points and made a big statement as they kept their 100% record and have yet to concede a goal. Even the Man Utd manager said that their opponents were ‘brilliant’ and congratulated them in his post-match interview.
If Man Utd fans had any delusions about the season ahead, this result confirmed that there is still a huge gulf between these two sides. Liverpool could have scored six or seven goals on another day. The Red Devils are a long way off where they want to be, even a top four finish seems a huge ask. It may take more than a chemical engineer buying 27.7% of the club to remedy.
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