By: Shane Brennan
Liverpool travelled to Old Trafford on Monday night to face Manchester United, in a game where both sides were looking for their first three points of the new Premier League season so what exactly did we learn from the encounter?
It was Manchester United that started much the better of the two teams as Scott McTominay found Bruno Fernandes with a decent through ball, the Portuguese international found himself through on goal he ended up squaring the ball across the box for Anthony Elanga to get a shot away, but thankfully the ball was to come crashing back off the post as alarm bells began to ring in The Reds defence.
But Liverpool’s reprieve wasn’t to last for long as Christian Eriksen and Elanga played a neat one two between them Elanga managed to pick out Jadon Sancho, the Englishman managed to cause utter confusion and panic in The Reds back line as many lost their footing, and this made it a simple task for Sancho to slot the ball home past a helpless Alisson Becker as the Theatre Of Dreams erupted.
Liverpool unfortunately continued to struggle as the dangerous Elanga ran at Trent Alexander-Arnold with Searing pace, this resulted in the Liverpool defender conceding a free kick right on the edge of the area. Eriksen whipped the ball towards the top corner with pace, Alisson was there to produce a fine save as Liverpool clung on for dear life.
In a first half where Liverpool struggled to come to terms with United’s relentless pace, they nearly found themselves on level terms when an Andy Robertson corner found James Milner he headed the ball down which resulted in Fernandes belting the ball right at Lisandro Martínez right on the goal line, but somehow between the two of them they managed to clear the danger.
The second half started in desperate fashion for The Reds as Jordan Henderson took a heavy touch, that presented the ball to Anthony Martial as he slipped the ball through to Marcus Rashford the Englishman went on to finish the chance off with ease.
Liverpool then managed to pull themselves together ever so slightly, when Harvey Elliott found James Milner things were looking promising as Luis Diaz looked certain to score, David De Gea was on hand to ride to The Red Devils rescue.
Things very nearly got worse for Liverpool when Eriksen put the ball into the box from a United corner, the ball eventually ended up falling for Raphael Varane who teed up Rashford for a shot, from which Alisson on this occasion was able to make an excellent save down to his right.
The Reds nearly were handed a life line thanks to an Andy Robertson cross Martínez once again nearly put the ball past his own goalkeeper , but David De Gea was there when United needed him most.
The Reds were to get back into the game late on when Fabio Carvalho unleashed a powerful drive at De Gea he could only parry the ball out to Mohamed Salah who was on hand to head the ball home to make it 2-1. In the end it was to be Manchester United’s night, as they ran out deserving winners on the evening.
Conclusion
Liverpool never got into their stride, its early days yet, Luis Diaz looked bright along with Fabio Carvalho making good contributions along the way in what overall was an extremely frustrating night for Jürgen Klopp’s side, as injuries seem to be preventing the Reds from putting a positive run of results together once again.
