MANCHESTER UNITED 0-5 LIVERPOOL: POST GAME MUSINGS

Liverpool took apart arch rivals Manchester United last night, as they romped to a 5-0 win at Old Trafford. A hat trick from Mohamed Salah, after goals from Naby Keita and Diogo Jota, gave the Reds their biggest ever win at Old Trafford. It was a performance and a result for the ages. Read on as we pick the bones out of it. You can also find player ratings from the game here:

https://made4liverpool.wordpress.com/2021/10/24/a-few-observations-from-the-game-tonight-manchester-united-0-5-liverpool/

° Open start. United usually sit deep and resort to a counter attacking approach when they face us. That wasn’t quite the case this time around, owing in part to mounting pressure on the manager, and also not having the attacking players disciplined enough to defend and wait for their opportunities on the counter. It led to a very open game, with United having the first big chance of the match after 3 minutes.

° Ruthless Reds. Trading blow for blow with this Liverpool side is a suicidal tactic at the best of times, and soon enough, Klopp’s men created their chances and took them. They were 2-0 up after 15 minutes as they sliced through the United rearguard with ease. It was the second consecutive game they had gone 2-0 inside 15, and unlike against Atleti, they defended well and rammed home their advantage.

° Brilliant Naby. Klopp went with Keita again despite hooking him in midweek, and what a performance it was! The Guinean made loads of third man runs into the box and found himself unmarked almost every time. He took his goal well to open the scoring and was involved in the second and third as well. This was Naby bossing a big away game and it was a sight to behold. That he picked up an injury sums up the rotten luck he’s had since joining the club.

° Captain’s performance. Henderson is another who was superb. He was metronomic in the middle of the pitch and the icing on the cake was a jaw dropping assist to aid Salah seal his hat trick. It was truly a pass and a half, as he first robbed Pogba off possession, before sending the ball curling in behind a retreating defence and perfectly into Salah’s path. Fitting that Sir Alex Ferguson was in attendance, his criticism of Hendo all those years ago isn’t forgotten.

° Magic Mo. Salah broke about five records on the way to hitting his hat trick. The most impressive of all was becoming the first ever player to score a PL hat trick at Old Trafford. He keeps raising the bar every single time he steps onto the pitch. Not just the goals, the unselfish assist as well. His all round play is just astonishing right now, and his run of scoring in consecutive games (ten now) doesn’t seem like it’ll come to an end anytime soon.

° Big Ibou. A surprise inclusion, the 22 year old went ahead to boss proceedings as he contributed to a clean sheet, his third in three games for the club. He ended the game with the most clearances (8) and showcased just why Jürgen Klopp was willing to wait a window to sign him. We now have an abundance of excellent centre halves; a good mix of youth and experience, with Ibou (22), Gomez (24), Phillips (25) and Van Dijk and Matip both 30.

° OT hoodoo broken. That performance showed the collective experience this group of players have garnered together. There were no nerves on show as they clinically took United apart. After the red card second half, they slowed the game down to walking pace and just saw it out without further injuries. The average age of the starting XI in the past two games has been as high as it’s been in a while, and that experience can only be a good thing in the short term.

° How good are we? We went into this game under pressure, as both Chelsea and City had secured impressive wins. We sent out a message of our own though and definitely caught everyone’s attention. We went away to Old Trafford and battered them without Thiago, Matip, Elliott, Mané or Fabinho in the XI. We obliterated them without even getting out of second gear. This mere days after coming away from Atleti with all three points too. What a team!