Liverpool applied at Old Trafford the lesson they learned at Wanda on the last day of the Champions League, where they narrowly missed the victory after winning 0-2. Jürgen Klopp left the Madrid stadium after delivering one of his electrifying verdicts. “You have to score as many goals as you can while you’re fresh,” he said, “because in these kinds of games with so much physical wear and tear, in the second half you don’t get there anymore.”
0
De Gea, Harry Maguire, Nilsson-Lindelöf, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw, Fred, Bruno Fernandes (Cavani, min. 61), Rashford (Diogo Dalot, min. 61), McTominay, Mason Greenwood (Pogba, min. 45) and Christian
5
Alisson, Virgil Van Dijk, A. Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Henderson, Naby Keita (Oxlade-Chamberlain, min. 62), Milner (Curtis Jones, min. 26), Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino (Mane, min. 75) and Salah
Goals 0-1 min. 4: Naby Keita. 0-2 min. 12: Diogo Jota. 0-3 min. 37: Salah. 0-4 min. 49: Salah. 0-5 min. 49: Salah.
Referee Anthony Taylor
Yellow cards Shaw (min. 40), Cristiano (min. 45), Fred (min. 47), Bruno Fernandes (min. 45), Harry Maguire (min. 54) and Wan-Bissaka (min. 85)
Red cards Pogba (min. 60)
Liverpool did not wait for the second half. At the break of the English classic played this Sunday, he beat Manchester United 0-4. For the first time in the history of the English championship, United suffered four goals in half a game. He was devastated by the lightning bolt from Liverpool, which without having made any revolution in its squad this summer has managed to rediscover the splendid version that elevated him to the title in 2020. United paid for it with a definitive 0-5. Something unusual at Old Trafford since 1955, thanks to a visit from City. Something that announced the ramshackle game of a team that has only managed to win three games out of the last eight it has played in an agonizing way. His coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, seems helpless. After almost three years in office, the fans begin to signal their incompetence with whistles and boos in a field that until recently reserved the reverence due to the legends.
The balance immediately tipped in favor of the team that knew his plan best. Liverpool never alter its structure or its spirit. Lost in the uncertainty, Solskjaer sacrificed Pogba to shield his rear with a double pivot that has not worked in decisive moments for years. Fred and Mc Tominay joined in front of their centrals in a specially designed scheme to free Cristiano Ronaldo from defensive work. A couple of minutes of action had elapsed when the dysfunctional scheme of the local team was drawn on the field: 4-2-4. A drawing worthy of another era, an order sharply divided between specialists, some who attack and others who defend, a formula has expired since collectivist machines like this Liverpool emerged on the horizon of football in which all exhibit as many functions as Swiss army knives.
Solskjaer’s decision to exempt Cristiano from the task of pushing him to focus all his energy on chasing goals has produced an extreme statistic. Of the 29 Premier League attackers who have played more than 270 minutes this season, the Portuguese is the one who makes the least effort to pressure. From far. According to the company Statsbomb, the Portuguese accumulates just 2.7 pressure maneuvers on average per game this season. Liverpool’s striker who pushes the least, Sadio Mané, averages 10.5 efforts to steal the ball from his opponent.
Cristiano’s release was the condemnation of his team at Old Trafford. United failed in their defense and counterattack project because they were never able to steal the ball from their adversary where they were forging the first link in their offensive chain. If Cristiano stopped chasing Van Dijk, Rashford also did not decide to harass Alexander-Arnold, Bruno Fernandes could not compensate by running for three and Greenwood was late to cover Robertson. Thus, Liverpool’s defenders played with time and Henderson, the midfielder, almost always acted unmarked to receive and ponder his pass because Fred, the man who had to cover him, remained too far away, too disconnected from a circuit that collapsed like the pieces of a he dominated against a relentless rival for coordination and solidarity.
37-pass play for 0-3
Before five minutes, Naby Keita scored the first goal after a long combination that began with Alisson, the Liverpool goalkeeper. They descended towards the ball Firmino and Salah and attacked the spaces Millner and Keita, the interiors, in one of the most difficult maneuvers to defend in football. Undecided between taking care of their zone or protecting that of the neighbor, the central United lost the reference. Fred and Mc Tominay, the double pivot that preceded them, could only react out of time in a sea of doubts.
Liverpool completed up to 18 consecutive passes before making it 0-2. Not a quarter of an hour had elapsed when, based on rhythmic passes and movements into space, Salah, Millner, Keita and Arnold were left alone, their markers were so out of adjustment. As Maguire and Lindelof wavered in no-man’s-land, dazzled by the sight of a departing Firmino, the interiors overwhelmed them and the winger, Jota, remained out of the radar. Substitute for Mané, who rested, Jota scored at the far post, one touch, the center of Alexander Arnold. The course of the play installed Keita at levels that he had not reached since he was a member of Leipzig.
The progressive decomposition of United accelerated to the speed at which Liverpool moved the ball from field to field without a robbery. A total of 37 passes were made by the visitors in the long evolution that led to the first of three goals from Salah. It was the first hat-trick of a rival at Old Trafford since the famous night that Ronaldo Nazario left his stamp, 18 years ago, with Real Madrid in the Champions League. The bombardment established the Egyptian as the most decisive African to have passed through the English championship with 106 goals. Two more than Didier Drogba.
Perplexed in the band, no longer angry, exhausted and trembling, Solskjaer gestured as if he wanted to give an order he had never quite formulated. The cameras followed him as he watched with bloodshot eyes as his team collapsed after Salah’s 0-4.
The substitution of Greenwood for Pogba in the interval had no more visible effect than the inflammation of the French midfielder, completely irritated, perhaps by his substitution, perhaps by feeling doubly humiliated. The game already registered the final 0-5 when Pogba did not hesitate to plant his cleats on Keita’s right calf in a divided ball. The Guinean midfielder had to be removed on a stretcher and Pogba received a direct red card after VAR mediation. The one who is probably the best United footballer, today, will miss the game against Tottenham and Manchester City by suspension.
Cristiano’s goal, canceled for offside, was the ironic coda of a dramatic afternoon for Manchester United fans. Many left the stadium before the final whistle, like an army giving up. The consequences of the 0-5 are unpredictable in a spiral of crisis that has not stopped since 2013. For the moment, the league seems lost again, waiting for the leaders, as stunned as Solskjaer, to find him a replacement.
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