Monday night’s goal-less draw between Liverpool and Manchester United was the most viewed league game in the UK for almost three years, according to The Telegraph. But if United fans want to celebrate not really having a shot on target at Anfield and leaving with a point, then that’s a good sign for Liverpool. For the first time they played with (Jordan) Henderson and (Emre) Can together. They were very cautious.
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They avoided passing the ball in positions where Liverpool could press them, slowed the game down and hurled long-throws down the line in order to avoid losing the ball in general play.
Many have criticised Mourinho’s pragmatic style and the form of Pogba, the world’s most expensive player, continues to be a talking point. I didn’t expect we would have 10 to 15 chances.
Captain Wayne Rooney says there is enough talent in the “fantastic” Manchester United squad to launch a serious challenge for the Premier League title despite a mixed start to the campaign. Some even suggested beforehand a three-goal victory margin and top spot in the Premier League was attainable for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
“I couldn’t be happier”. That can happen from the start but you have to find your way back to the way we usually play. “We had 65% possession but you have to do more things with it”, he complained. “We had control of the game”.
He added: “The second half was better but with a little bit faster legs, we could have created more”. “They had that chance with Ibrahimovic”. In my day, we’d have Alan Hansen bringing the ball out and he’d sometimes get as far as the opposing back four.
“We can do much better and we must do much better”.
“No one wanted to lose but we can take a lot from this game”.
“It wasn’t like last time after the global break when we had an early kick off on a Saturday [the 2-1 league defeat against Manchester City] and we had more time to prepare”. It was like “Give it to Daniel”.
“We controlled very well the emotion of the game and ourselves and also we could influence the atmosphere of the stadium”.
The early pressure that might have been anticipated from the home side never really materialised and it quickly became apparent Liverpool were not going to have the freedom to dictate the tempo as they had in their previous Anfield fixtures. “We tried everything, only with the wrong tools”.
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Former Reds striker John Aldridge has turned Liverpool’s below-par performance against Manchester United on Monday night into a positive for the players to take forward with them.
