Manchester United won with 1 point leading
Against a backdrop of protests against the club’s ownership, Manchester United delivered a performance of intensity and spirit to beat fierce rival Liverpool 2-1 on Monday and finally claim its first points in the Premier League this season.
Composed finishes by Jadon Sancho in the 16th minute and Marcus Rashford in the 53rd earned a victory that will bring some respite for under-pressure manager Erik ten Hag, who made a huge statement in his team selection by dropping star striker Cristiano Ronaldo and club captain Harry Maguire and was validated.
Mohamed Salah scored an 81st-minute consolation but it was another below-par display from Liverpool.
For several years, those around Old Trafford – be it, former players, in the guise of TV pundits, or the fans protesting the ownership at the stadium – have clamoured for Manchester United to develop an identity.
Erik Ten Hag, former manager of Ajax where he led the development of young players and got them to play a progressive, incisive, possession-based style of football, was meant to be the answer.
Manchester United arrived fearing the fighting spirit of their disenfranchised fans but left having shown a transformative abundance of that quality themselves on the pitch as they claimed a famous and ferocious victory over Liverpool. They battled for every inch.
Instead of anti-Glazer marches and protests – and understandably they will not go away – and apparent terminal decline this was about an unexpected ray of hope rather than hatred or hype as new manager Erik ten Hag not only earned his first win, and first Premier League points but produced a rescue plan.
The anger of the United fans was not abated but neither was it heightened after a display in which Ten Hag relegated Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire – big stories but not a big call given their lack of form and focus – and his team was emphatically better without them.
For Ten Hag this was empowering as he turned to youth and speed and was also rewarded with a warrior-like contribution from his new defender, Lisandro Martinez. He was a dog of war while, upfront, Marcus Rashford was finally the Marcus Rashford of old and scored his first Premier League goal since January.
And so the glare, the spotlight and scrutiny, turns to Liverpool who, in their early season form, look far short of the formidable team they have been in the last few seasons.
There has been so much focus on United’s troubles, and which team Ten Hag would select, that Liverpool’s injury crisis – and with Darwin Nunez suspended and the out-of-form Fabinho dropped – was almost over-looked. But their substitutes bench, in particular, appeared callow and Klopp’s resources were severely stretched. There was also a murmur of discontent: “I miss Fab already,” pointedly tweeted the Brazilian midfielder’s wife as Liverpool came under early pressure.
United was primed. They sprung at Liverpool, fuelled by adrenalin, stung by failure and should have taken the lead when Scott McTominay secured possession at halfway and swept the ball through to Bruno Fernandes who slid into a tackle with Joe Gomez, passing to Anthony Elanga. The winger only had Alisson to beat, and beat him with a first-time shot as Ten Hag raised his arms in celebration – only for the ball to cannon back off the base of the post. What a chance.
If anything United upped the tempo and ferocity even further and they quickly made the breakthrough. In the white-heat Jadon Sancho was incredibly cool as he was picked out by Elanga, who had smartly exchanged passes with Christian Eriksen. Sancho took a touch, did a drag-back, dumped James Milner to the turf – and passed into the corner of the net. Astonishing.
Jadon Sancho keeps his composure to score the all-important opener CREDIT: PA
The celebrations were primal, unleashed and alive, and were immediately followed by another angry chant of “we want Glazers out”. What an atmosphere; what a cauldron of swirling and mixed emotion.
Milner made his unhappiness known to Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool was struggling with Trent Alexander-Arnold clearly targeted and booked for hauling back Elanga having already brought down Marcus Rashford, who appeared transformed as the lone striker. Alisson tipped over Fernandes’ whipped free-kick and the recriminations continued among the Liverpool players.
They were being over-run by United’s midfield which will soon be bolstered by Casemiro who completed his £60 million move and was presented to the fans prior to kick-off – when he was described as “one of the giants of the modern game” – and took his seat in the stands.
Could United sustain it? Inevitably they dipped and Liverpool threatened with Alexander-Arnold, far more comfortable going forward, crossing.
Raphael Varane cut it out but the ball ran to Harvey Elliott with Eriksen alert to deflect his snap-shot from 10 yards out.
The bias had switched and there was a huge escape for United when Milner met a corner with
Fernandes intervened to try and stop his own, only to inadvertently slice the ball powerfully goalwards from just a couple of yards out where it struck Martinez on the line and bounced away.
As the half-time whistle went Klopp jogged down the touchline. Little wonder. Liverpool was a pale imitation of their usual self.
They were even more colorless as United doubled their advantage with Anthony Martial, who had replaced the injured Elanga, latching onto Jordan Henderson’s miscontrol, beating Van Dijk to it and alertly releasing Rashford who had the speed and composure to run away from Alexander-Arnold, steady himself and beat Alisson at his near post. It looked tight on an offside call but the goal stood after a Var check.
Liverpool was wide open but almost struck back when Luis Diaz flicked at a cross from close-range with David De Gea instinctively blocking before, at the other end, Varane juggled with the ball and laid it back to Rashford whose low poked shot was smartly turned away by Alisson even though he was unsighted. It ended a run of 997 minutes without a goal for Rashford and what a time to score it.
Klopp reacted by bringing on Fabinho – you’re just a Casemiro sang the gleeful United fans and it surely had been a mistake not to start with the Brazilian as his team struggled to gain any real control.
