Janne Palomäki
It’s hard to recognize Manchester United as a club giant in their current form, writes Janne Palomäki.
Liverpool’s Luis Diaz got to know the toughness of Manchester United’s defense. PDO
Manchester United sought a credibility-important tie at Anfield Road.
Rarely – if ever – has a 0-0 result been celebrated so spectacularly in club history. It was an unquestionably won point as Liverpool had 34 shots (United had six), 600 passes (283) and 68.9% possession.
The only stat that United “won” was clearances (45-5).
With the point, manager Erik ten Hag gets peace of mind for at least a week ahead. Last season, this same match ended with Liverpool winning 7–0.
Progress has been made.
Or is it? United went to Liverpool looking for just a draw. It is the most successful club in the entire history of the English league, whose DNA includes the active attacking play of the entire team.
In the early years of the Premier League, we got to know the concept of “Fergie time”. It referred to the manager Like Alex Ferguson, drill the necessary winning goal in extra time given by the referee.
The soon-to-be 82-year-old Scot watched the events from the stands at Anfield Road. Statistically, today we should already be talking about “Klopp time”, because Liverpool’s German pilot rose ahead of Ferguson already with Harvey Elliott’s 91st-minute decisive goal in the previous league round.
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Dominik Szoboszlai was frustrated after missing the goal. PDO
Based on yesterday, United’s golden age seemed very far away. Namely, the visiting team packed all their players inside their penalty zone during extra time, when they defended themselves a valuable point.
Of course, it would be unreasonable to demand that the players who ran their lungs out to the yard desperately searched for the winning goal. But is it fitting for United’s value that jookue spends as much time as possible with each game break?
– Many good things happened in the game, but I just don’t like the result. We should have scored, Jürgen Klopp admitted to Sky Sports after the game.
– I don’t remember us dominating United like this. Even in that 7-0 match, they tried more.
Whether Manchester United should try to win is of course a matter of taste. Ten Hag’s tactics were probably the only one that could have avoided the predicted crushing defeat.
– There was only one team on the field that tried to win. Of course it’s frustrating, Pool skipper Virgil van Dijk confirmed.
Ten Hag has been able to coach the team for almost a year and a half now. The amount of work is not visible in the fieldbecause at no point has the game resembled the attacking fun he showed in Ajax.
At some point, the Dutchman also has to ask tough questions about his purchases. Antony, who was bought for 95 million euros, sailed again ineffectively as usual, and Rasmus Höjlund, who cost a good 70 million euros, has not yet managed to score a goal in the Premier League.
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Top scorer Raphël Varane (right) and goalkeeper André Onana were United’s heroes in the draw battle. PDO
And although Sofyan Amrabat, who came on loan at the beginning of the season, played one of the best matches of his United career, he would certainly never have been acquired if 18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo had not suffered a bad ankle problem at the end of the summer.
On Sunday, Mainoo became the youngest United player in Premier League history to start a game at Anfield Road.
Ten Hag’s personnel management has become a topic of conversation. He has already kicked Jadon Sancho out of the team, and clearly someone bothered him with Raphaël Varane’s attitude as well.
The last time the Frenchman made it to the league match was at the end of September. Now, however, Harry Maguire’s injury forced the Manager to resort to a topper.
And now it’s easy to say that the 0-0 draw really wouldn’t have happened without Varane’s calming presence and timely breaks. After this performance, it’s a bit harder to drop the four-time Champions League winner from United’s opener.
The truth is that on the eve of the trip to West Ham, the attacking game must also be seen on the field.
This was simply not a performance worthy of Manchester United.