Manchester United Goes Marching On

It’s been three agonising years since Manchester United last beat Liverpool. Since then, Liverpool has been champions of Europe, the world and England in that order. United fans have had to tolerate the banter from Liverpool fans who have discreetly or blatantly rubbed their glee in our faces. Begrudgingly, we have had to acknowledge the greatness of this Liverpool team and it has hurt us every time to see them sweep all before them while we become mere spectators. Thus, it was sweet to finally break the duck and beat our arch-nemesis early on Sunday morning.

But the bigger picture…..before I get to the bigger picture, let me look back at the game. It was United’s first win against a big team this season. Ironically, it was achieved after Ole Gunnar Solksjaer released the shackles tactically, the first time since the mauling against Tottenham Hotspur.

I felt the game was evenly contested, both teams had spells of pressure and dominance. Both teams looked susceptible in defence and attack was the best form of defence for both. It was a matter of which team can make their dominance count. Neither could do that so it would take either a mistake or moment of brilliance to win it and that moment belonged to Bruno Fernandes.

Shaky Defence

Defensively, it wasn’t a tight performance. Every time Liverpool attacked, I was afraid that we could concede. Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof were not at their best. For the first goal, I felt Scott McTominay was at fault for allowing Roberto Firmino space to play the through ball to Mohamed Salah. It was a well-weighted pass but between Lindelof and Luke Shaw we should have dealt with it. For the second goal, there were mistakes all over, Maguire didn’t look very comfortable playing the ball out from the back. Edinson Cavani’s attempt at a switch of play was intercepted by Liverpool. Firmino again was not closed down fast enough this time by Lindelof. He played a pass and Maguire was sold to the dummy. The ball made its way to Salah who swept home the equaliser. Soft goals to concede.

Efficient Attack

In the attacking third, we were still not quite fluid. Poor decision-making in the final third annoyed me. Mason Greenwood raced clear and opted to shoot from a narrow angle when he should have crossed for at least one of his two team-mates in the box. It was good to see that we had periods of dominance on the ball in the game and we took the game to Liverpool. I just wished we did more with it. For our first goal, the best part of the build-up was in our own half. Paul Pogba won the ball and Donny van de Beek was quick in releasing it to Rashford. As it turned out, Rashford received assistance from the bench to switch play, which shows us his lack of foresight. I am glad for Greenwood that he got his goal and that too in a big game such as this.

Our second goal was well-worked. Cavani nipped the ball off Thiago in the centre circle in our half, played it to Greenwood who released Rashford. Rashford then finished it tidily. We had opportunities from corners to score but Pogba and McTominay both missed free headers. This is a department we got to do better in. Fernandes scored the winner from a free-kick and scoring directly from a free-kick is also something we need to do better in.

Big Picture

Now for the big picture. It is always nice to beat Liverpool but this win means nothing if we get eliminated in the next round of the FA Cup or most immediately, drop points against Sheffield United in the league. Seeing how our defence played without two defensive midfielders in front of them showed why Solksjaer keeps going back to this set-up in big matches. If he keeps playing Lindelof instead of Eric Bailly in these matches, we will be exposed in defence. I feel we must do better going forward. I wouldn’t say this was a perfect performance or a fantastic one but at the moment, we are winning without playing particularly well. A good sign of the team’s mentality and spirit but we need to start playing better.