Liverpool followed their 5-0 thrashing of Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier in the season with another devastating and, at times, arrogant and contemptuous display to brush their historic rivals aside 4-0 to go top of the league table by two points ahead of Manchester City’s home game against Brighton on Wednesday night.
It’s hard to believe how far ahead of Manchester United in terms of quality Liverpool are. The scoreline could have been anything Liverpool wanted had the Reds, after having gone two up after 22 minutes, didn’t relax and feel so comfortable that they seemed to want to show off their superiority and toy with Manchester United rather than put them to the sword.
Thiago Alcantara was magical in midfield. Audible gasps could be heard from the Liverpool faithful at some of his passing. How did he see that angle? How did he execute that pass with such laser-like accuracy? And his passing wasn’t just clever, it was also incisive, catching the opponents by surprise and creating great attacking opportunities. It was perhaps Thiago’s best game for the Reds and he easily won man of the match.
The rout began after five minutes with a chip from Sadio Mané that found Mo Salah in acres of space down the right and his firm accurate cross cut out the retreating Man Utd defence and fell into the path of Luis Diaz who couldn’t miss from four yards out.
Having assisted the first goal, Salah broke his six-game goal drought finishing off an extended piece of superb team play and passing that ended with Joel Matip, finding himself in the number 10 position, playing an incisive pass to Mané on the edge of the area and his exquisite round-the-corner pass fell into the path of Salah and the Egyptian king controlled the ball with one touch then finished with aplomb passed David de Gea.
Salah’s excellent performance will have quietened all those who’ve been saying that since his disappointments with the Egyptian national side – losing in the Afcon final to Senegal and to the same team in the World Cup qualifying playoff – his form for Liverpool has dipped. Yet anyone who saw how strong, fit and engaged Salah was in the FA Cup semi-final win against Manchester City last Saturday would have realised that there was nothing wrong with the Egyptian striker and his goal-scoring touch would return sooner rather than later – which it did today and in spectacular fashion.
Manchester United changed formation at half-time, with Ralf Rangnick abandoning the five at the back and taking off Phil Jones for a more conventional 4-4-2 with Jordan Sancho coming on on the left.
And, indeed, Sancho was at the epicentre of a modest Manchester United revival – and a drop off in Liverpool’s play as their strategy of controlling the game seemed to lead to too much caution, sloppiness in possession and a deterioration in mental sharpness – and fear crept in that rather like Manchester City in the cup Liverpool, having appeared to have won the game, would unnecessarily let the opposition back in.
But Manchester United are not Manchester City and the Red Devils couldn’t take advantage of their 25-minute stronger spell at the beginning of the second half and Liverpool’s deceleration and on 68 minutes Jurgen Klopp’s men finished the game off after Andy Robertson drove into the United half, laid the ball off to Luis Diaz on the the edge of the United area and the Colombian superbly found Mané level with the penalty spot and the Senegalese striker stroked the ball with his left foot into the far post corner passed the outstretched hand of the United keeper.
To prove to his doubters that he was well and truly back to his best, Salah completed the rout on 85 minutes after Diogo Jota – on for Luis Diaz – found Salah in the area and seeing off a challenge from Aaron Wan-Bissaka managed to lift the ball over de Gea and into the back of the net.
Having drawn 3-3 with Benfica and taken the tie 6-4 and secured their place in the Champions League semi-final, which will be played against Villarreal, and earned a place in the FA Cup final (against Chelsea) after seeing off Manchester City, Liverpool have had a spectacular week.
It could get better if Brighton – who have beaten Spurs and Arsenal in their last two games – pull off an unlikely result against Pep Guardiola’s men at the Etihad tomorrow and Liverpool deal with struggling Everton as they should in the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Sunday.
It’s hard to believe how far ahead of Manchester United in terms of quality Liverpool are. The scoreline could have been anything Liverpool wanted had the Reds, after having gone two up after 22 minutes, didn’t relax and feel so comfortable that they seemed to want to show off their superiority and toy with Manchester United rather than put them to the sword.
Thiago Alcantara was magical in midfield. Audible gasps could be heard from the Liverpool faithful at some of his passing. How did he see that angle? How did he execute that pass with such laser-like accuracy? And his passing wasn’t just clever, it was also incisive, catching the opponents by surprise and creating great attacking opportunities. It was perhaps Thiago’s best game for the Reds and he easily won man of the match.
The rout began after five minutes with a chip from Sadio Mané that found Mo Salah in acres of space down the right and his firm accurate cross cut out the retreating Man Utd defence and fell into the path of Luis Diaz who couldn’t miss from four yards out.
Having assisted the first goal, Salah broke his six-game goal drought finishing off an extended piece of superb team play and passing that ended with Joel Matip, finding himself in the number 10 position, playing an incisive pass to Mané on the edge of the area and his exquisite round-the-corner pass fell into the path of Salah and the Egyptian king controlled the ball with one touch then finished with aplomb passed David de Gea.
Salah’s excellent performance will have quietened all those who’ve been saying that since his disappointments with the Egyptian national side – losing in the Afcon final to Senegal and to the same team in the World Cup qualifying playoff – his form for Liverpool has dipped. Yet anyone who saw how strong, fit and engaged Salah was in the FA Cup semi-final win against Manchester City last Saturday would have realised that there was nothing wrong with the Egyptian striker and his goal-scoring touch would return sooner rather than later – which it did today and in spectacular fashion.
Manchester United changed formation at half-time, with Ralf Rangnick abandoning the five at the back and taking off Phil Jones for a more conventional 4-4-2 with Jordan Sancho coming on on the left.
And, indeed, Sancho was at the epicentre of a modest Manchester United revival – and a drop off in Liverpool’s play as their strategy of controlling the game seemed to lead to too much caution, sloppiness in possession and a deterioration in mental sharpness – and fear crept in that rather like Manchester City in the cup Liverpool, having appeared to have won the game, would unnecessarily let the opposition back in.
But Manchester United are not Manchester City and the Red Devils couldn’t take advantage of their 25-minute stronger spell at the beginning of the second half and Liverpool’s deceleration and on 68 minutes Jurgen Klopp’s men finished the game off after Andy Robertson drove into the United half, laid the ball off to Luis Diaz on the the edge of the United area and the Colombian superbly found Mané level with the penalty spot and the Senegalese striker stroked the ball with his left foot into the far post corner passed the outstretched hand of the United keeper.
To prove to his doubters that he was well and truly back to his best, Salah completed the rout on 85 minutes after Diogo Jota – on for Luis Diaz – found Salah in the area and seeing off a challenge from Aaron Wan-Bissaka managed to lift the ball over de Gea and into the back of the net.
Having drawn 3-3 with Benfica and taken the tie 6-4 and secured their place in the Champions League semi-final, which will be played against Villarreal, and earned a place in the FA Cup final (against Chelsea) after seeing off Manchester City, Liverpool have had a spectacular week.
It could get better if Brighton – who have beaten Spurs and Arsenal in their last two games – pull off an unlikely result against Pep Guardiola’s men at the Etihad tomorrow and Liverpool deal with struggling Everton as they should in the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Sunday.
