Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp during the Premier League game between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford.
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Manchester United and Liverpool renew their rivalry on Saturday at Old Trafford, with both sides seeking to establish themselves as the best of the rest behind Manchester City. “Today, we trusted him”. It’ll be interesting to see how Mourinho sets his team up for the weekend’s Clash of the Titans. “But this year, I had the dry spell in November and December, where there was a gap, and now things are becoming even better”.
Eric Bailly replaces Victor Lindelof in the starting line-up, making his first start since November. His inactivity potentially threatened his spot in England’s squad for the World Cup but his goals against Liverpool brought him back into the spotlight.
For United’s second goal, Lukaku held up the ball from another goal-kick before feeding Juan Mata and, although he could not get a shot away, the ball fell for Rashford to score via a slight deflection from Alexander-Arnold.
And the towering striker’s noggin was involved in the build-up to United’s second as Rashford celebrated his first start of 2018 with another solid finish.
“I told him “central defender” and after the third goal he was playing in a back five with [Chris] Smalling and [Victor] Lindelof because I couldn’t make any more changes”. I don’t remember David (De Gea) having to make an incredible save or many unsafe situations. You can always lose a header and challenge with Lukaku, of course.
“In the second half…was Liverpool controlling with the ball and United controlling without the ball”.
Since October’s goalless draw against Mourinho’s team, Liverpool have joined United in spending big on one player with the £75 million (€84 million) purchase of Virgil van Dijk. They couldn’t manage an equalizer, however, on a day its prolific strikeforce was kept quiet.
Speaking to the BBC after the game, Mourinho said of Pogba: “He was injured in the last minute of the last training session before the game”.
Asked if United’s first win over Liverpool since January 2016 was the ideal performance, Mourinho said: “Perfect result. Yes”. I know how the situation is and what people are saying they play a specific kind, we play a specific kind of football and now everyone makes a big thing of it.
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Recent history between these sides suggests we’ll be in for a boring game.
