Soccer

Manchester United blunt Liverpool with unexpected show of defiance

Visitors keep rivals at arm’s length to earn a point at Anfield

Liverpool's Luis Diaz goes down whilst battling for the ball during the Premier League match at Anfield. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Liverpool's Luis Diaz goes down whilst battling for the ball during the Premier League match at Anfield. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Andy Hunter
Sun Dec 17 2023 - 19:11
Premier League: Liverpool 0 Manchester United 0

Anfield held harrowing recent memories for Manchester United but Erik Ten Hag’s side returned to the scene of last season’s crime to blunt Liverpool with an unexpected show of defiance. Jürgen Klopp disliked the prematch talk of another Liverpool landslide; he will have liked the eventual outcome even less.

Liverpool’s run of 11 straight home wins this season was halted by a resolute United performance in front of Anfield’s biggest crowd for over half a century. The extra 7,000 seats in the upper tier of the new Anfield Road stand merely increased the frustration among the home crowd as Klopp’s side squandered the chance to return to the Premier League summit. Diogo Dalot was dismissed in the 94th minute for two stupid shows of dissent in quick succession but Liverpool lacked the composure or

The 212th meeting between the clubs may have extended Liverpool’s unbeaten sequence in the fixture to eight matches but it was Ten Hag, under pressure and needing a reaction to exiting the Champions League in midweek, who got the show of fight that he desperately required.

The United manager was hindered by an injury list that included three central defenders – Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martínez and Victor Lindelöf – while Bruno Fernandes’ suspension and the ill Anthony Martial reduced his options further. Even so, the ramshackle nature of United’s starting line-up and inexperience on their bench reinforced how badly the club has recruited at vast expense in recent years. The visitors could consider it an achievement to get to half-time with the game goalless.

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Klopp had vowed Liverpool would “go for them” in an attempt to prey on any lingering anxieties from last season’s 7-0 humiliation. He wasn’t lying. Liverpool won the first corner of the game after 26 seconds. There was a tumultuous roar from the home support when Ryan Gravenberch pressed Sofyan Amrabat into a United corner and won possession moments later. United’s centre-forward, Rasmus Højlund, was helping Luke Shaw out at left-back long before making his presence felt in the Liverpool half.

Manchester United's defender Luke Shaw defends against Mohamed Salah. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty
Manchester United's defender Luke Shaw defends against Mohamed Salah. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty

There was intensity and constant pressure from the home side, forcing United into desperate defensive actions from the first whistle, but too many wayward final balls enabled the visitors to ride the storm in the first half. André Onana escaped when dropping a Gravenberch header under pressure to Mohamed Salah, and reacting to turn his scrambled shot wide, but was only seriously tested by Virgil van Dijk’s header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner. The United keeper tipped over from close range. Onana’s biggest contribution was to the palpitations among the away fans whenever playing out with his feet.

The lack of composure in Liverpool’s first half performance was encapsulated by the first booking of the contest for Darwin Núñez. The Uruguay international raised an arm into the chest of Jonny Evans when pursuing a long ball out of defence and was booked for kicking the ball away after the blatant free-kick was awarded. He then sarcastically applauded the assistant referee. The foul on Evans was more deserving of a yellow card than the offence Núñez was cautioned for.

United were reliant on the counterattack to hurt Liverpool. They might have succeeded with more quality, confidence and intelligence in their front line, particularly in the second half when the visitors had ample opportunity to expose Liverpool’s defence.

Antony was again infuriatingly wasteful on the right, quicker to blame others for his mistakes than to spot the right pass. The largely anonymous Alejandro Garnacho was played through by a delightful ball from Kobbie Mainoo but was unable to hold off Alexander-Arnold as he entered the penalty area. The Liverpool vice-captain intervened with a vital touch. Antony was involved in a flowing United move that ended with Scott McTominay, captain in the absence of Fernandes, releasing Højlund behind Van Dijk. The chance to open his United account when and where it really mattered presented itself to Højlund but Alisson blocked well with his chest. The Liverpool keeper gathered the striker’s scuffed follow-up.

Klopp’s team continued to pose the greater threat, however. Alexander-Arnold placed a shot inches wide from 25 yards with Onana stranded. The Cameroon international produced an assured second half performance, saving confidently from Salah, Ibrahima Konaté and Núñez. United also survived a VAR review for handball against Shaw after Kostas Tsimikas’s cross bounced up on to the defender’s arm off his thigh. Dalot made a superb intervention to prevent Luis Díaz sweeping home from close range but blotted his evening when getting sent off for two shows of dissent in stoppage time. – Guardian

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