As a Liverpool fan, it hurts the most when you watch your team go down
to the bitterest of rivals in Manchester United. United’s Marcus
Rashford scored twice in the first half to seal Liverpool’s fate
despite a lifeline being thrown in the second half when Eric Bailly
mishit a clearance past his own keeper.
Thanks to @lordofpendragon for this guest post! 🌟
-Same old failings exposed
On a day when Liverpool needed to be at the very best in what is
commonly billed as the biggest league game of the season, the Reds
came up desperately short in a poor first half. The Reds entered the
match high on confidence with the lethal front of Roberto Firmino,
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane blossoming and the defence looking
increasingly solid with Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk striking up a
fine partnership in the heart of the defence. However, it took
Manchester United less than half an hour into the first half to shred
those hopes mercilessly. Liverpool have long had difficulty handling
big strikers and that weakness once again came to the fore today.
Romelu Lukaku was all set to exploit that old weakness today and he
did so to devastating effect. Both of United’s goals came off the
result of similar a build-up play of a long De Gea clearance that a
towering Lukaku played on to his teammates to run behind the Liverpool
defence. Simple it seems, but highly effective it proved to be in
United’s favour as a pacey Marcus Rashford ruthlessly converted both
chances to put his side two up in ten first half minutes. We all
thought Liverpool had gotten over that old failing, especially with
the recruitment of the commanding Van Dijk, but it seems like it’s
come back to haunt us today.
-Lethal front three have quiet day
Liverpool’s front three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed
Salah have formed such a formidable partnership this season that they
have been dubbed as the most dangerous front-line in Europe. However,
today when pitted against a team know to be highly defensive against
top tier opposition, the Reds’ front men were surprisingly subdued.
Salah was so closely marked throughout the whole match that we hardly
saw that blistering pace that have cut open so many defences this
season, let alone a shot on goal. Firmino was likewise suffocated
throughout the ninety minutes but he did get a few decent touches with
terrific one cross from the edge of the box that almost found Mane at
the far post. Sadio Mane on the other hand was seen constantly
dropping deep into central midfield to retrieve the ball and attempt
at creating an opening. It became a common sight in the game to see
Mane bringing the ball from midfield into United’s half, exchange a
few passes with teammates in the vicinity, attempt to bring the ball
into the final third, and getting crowded out by the opposition. It
was a frustrating sight to watch, but grudgingly, United do deserve
some credit for keeping “the most dangerous front-line in Europe” at
bay.
-Mourinho gets the better of Klopp
It was anticipated before the game that Mourinho’s Manchester United
may again employ the tactic of dropping deep and allowing Liverpool to
come at them before hitting them on the break like they had done so at
Anfield earlier on in the season. While it was not fully that case in
the first half, once United had two goals in the bag it was clear that
they Mourinho had decided it was time to drop deep and frustrate
Klopp’s team in the second half. Trailing by two goals, Klopp’s side
needed a strong response and came out all attacking in the second
half, inevitably playing straight into Mourinho’s tactics. The ensuing
second half was reminiscent of frustrating days when Liverpool had the
lion’s share of possession and mounted attack after attack on the
opposition goal but to no avail. I love the way Liverpool have been
playing under Jurgen Klopp but it is on such days when one wonders if
perhaps Liverpool should adapt find a way past difficult opposition of
similar manner. Klopp may rue the defensive mistakes in the first half
as the fatal blows, but Mourinho will be going home after the game
feeling that he had won the tactical battle today.
-Liverpool unlucky with refereeing decisions again
The anger among the fans was clear, even more so on social media
platforms, where many took to to voice their displeasure with the
refereeing decisions throughout the game.
There was a couple of controversial refereeing decisions throughout
the game, such as the decision to not penalize Marcus Rashford for a
rash challenge when he was already on a yellow card, the light
punishment for Valencia when he clearly brought his foot high into
Mane and not to mention the clear penalty appeals.
A penalty shout was waved away in the second half when Robertson’s
drilled cross appeared to strike Antonio Valencia’s arm before the
larger appeal involving Fellaini and Mane, which was highlighted by
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp after the game.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game Klopp said, “I think it was a
clear penalty with Fellaini on Sadio. In a situation like this, you
need the right decisions, if you want — we didn’t get them.”
Liverpool have been rather unlucky with refereeing decisions this
season, most notably in the controversial 2-2 draw with Tottenham
where Spurs were awarded two penalties in the second half with the
latter a terribly soft one that allowed Spurs to draw level.