Liverpool may have needed a little luck to get past a sorry Manchester United side on Sunday, but there was never any doubt who the better team was.
Though they didn’t pull away until late, thanks to two goals off of massive deflections by substitute Xherdan Shaqiri, Liverpool thoroughly dominated the latest matchup between England’s most historically successful sides.
Especially during a thrilling first half hour, Jurgen Klopp’s side attacked with pace and vigor, never giving an injury-depleted United backline a chance to breathe. And while there were some nervous moments from the Reds’ defense, like when keeper Alisson gifted United their only goal after muffing a harmless cross late in the first half, they were by far the more composed of the two units. This was far from their best performance of the season, but it was a comfortable win against their most hated rival and also kept them atop the league table headed into the annual holiday schedule crush.
But what might be most important about the win for Klopp and Liverpool is that it put an end to an eight-game winless streak against United in the league. It also means there are now a staggering 19 points between the sides in the league table, two games before the season has reached the halfway mark.
The giant gap between the two teams is a result of United’s continued, prolonged spiral under manager Jose Mourinho. As has been the case nearly every time they’ve come up against anyone good this year, United was second best by a sizable amount.
Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford offered next to nothing in attack. The midfield, especially the hapless Ander Herrera, never exerted even a hint of control over the game. And their defense was never less than a panicked mess, struggling to deal with the continual waves of pressure from the Liverpool attack. The only reason it looked like they might walk away with an unearned draw late into the game was that keeper David de Gea, as he so often does, came up big time repeatedly. At some point, though, there’s only so much one player can do in an 11-man team.
Though there have been plenty of poor performances by United during the season’s first four months, this might be their most dire result yet. There were games where they’ve played worse, but this was the first time the players didn’t even look like they thought they would, or even could, win.
Of course, It didn’t help that they were set up to fail by their manager. Although all this season’s evidence has shown his team are best when they at least try to attack, Mourinho sent out one of his most defensive setups of the campaign. And the strategy failed miserably. But rather than adjust, Mourinho doubled down on the game plan at the half, ignoring the attacking talent he had on the bench and sending on Marouane Fellaini in a futile attempt to strengthen the team’s defense. With the game up for grabs despite United having been outplayed for 45 minutes, and a chance at three vital points within their grasp, Mourinho decided that a draw was more than enough.
It’s no shame for a sixth-place team to play defensively against the league’s top side, but Manchester United are no normal sixth-place team. Sunday’s game, perhaps more than any other game this season highlighted just how far the team has fallen since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. And it wasn’t even the final scoreline that best reflected this, instead, it was another stat: total shots. That stat favored Liverpool 36-6.
Goal of the week
Junior Hoilett, Cardiff City
It may not have been enough to save his team from defeat, but at least Hoilett gave Cardiff City fans something to cheer about. Getting the ball out wide, the Canadian winger cut inside, took on two Watford defenders, and curled in a stunner that left the keeper without a chance.
Streak snap of the week
Arsenal
Arsenal are a new team under first-year manager Unai Emery, but that doesn’t mean the club is immune to an embarrassing slip-up here and there. On Sunday, the club’s 22-game undefeated streak came to an end at the hand’s of Southampton, one of the league’s worst teams. A backline playing together for the first time this season didn’t gel, and the offense, despite two goals, lacked the fluidity of recent months, so there was really no reason to complain about the 3-2 defeat.