Daniel’s Debrief: Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool

Finally.

I’ve seen us win there before, four times. But I’ve never seen us win a ‘normal’ game of football there. 

I’ve seen us win there because of Gerrard, Torres, Suarez and Salah’s individual brilliance. 

This though was us winning there by design, by tactics and by a gameplan being executed immaculately by a whole team rather than one or two stars.

I loved Jurgen Klopp and what he did for the club, and most of the best memories of my life have occurred with him as Liverpool manager, but I’m really happy that he decided to move on and that we’ve brought in a manager who has delivered on every level so far.

This game was a case study of two clubs and two managers: Arne Slot has imposed his identity more at Liverpool with three games than Erik Ten Hag has done in three years.

His first big call as Liverpool manager was to place trust in Ryan Gravenberch to be the team’s lead number six this season and whilst it’s still early days, he has made a tremendous start and today is his best performance yet. 

This was exactly what you’d want from a number six away from home in a big game. His presence was felt everywhere. Slot doesn’t just want a DM to sit and shield the back four, he wants him to get on the ball and influence things in the attacking half of the pitch too and he does exactly that. 

It’s his quick turn and marauding run that sets up the disallowed goal from Trent Alexander-Arnold, and there’s plenty of this, including in the lead-up to the first Luis Diaz goal. He drives like Patrick Vieira through the midfield and Slot’s vision of Liverpool playing through the middle is underpinned by his performance.

My concerns around him last season centred mainly on physicality and willingness to use his body but today, he is everywhere in that regard. He wins both of his tackles that he attempts and is also the most fouled player on the pitch.

It’s the speed of his movement and his ability to use his large stride to get ahead of an opponent, particularly in midfield, that makes him someone who’s often fouled.

The speed isn’t just in his movement but in his thought too. With four, he makes more interceptions than anyone on the day and what is noticeable to me is how many of these end up being important ones - either because United are threatening or because we can break as a result of his intervention.

This was a performance full of technical ability married with physical prowess, as well as all the mental attributes required. I’m so happy to say that I was wrong; Slot has pulled a real rabbit out of the hat here. Again, the caveat is that it’s early on in the season but no DM has played better than Gravenberch so far in the league this season.

The irony is that despite United having four ex-Ajax players on the pitch in Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez, Noussair Mazaroui and Matthijs De Ligt; Gravenberch is the only one of Ten Hag’s former players who looked well-coached today.

This is the most functional a Liverpool midfield has looked in a long time. Alexis Mac Allister is greatly improved from his first two showings. He’s very good at being intelligent and understanding spaces on the pitch. He’s so rarely out of position and he keeps things ticking so nicely.

He probably goes under the radar today but five tackles, 45 passes and eight progressive actions are very good numbers. Of course, his most telling involvement is his well-timed press on Kobbie Mainoo, which leads to the third goal. 

Dominik Szoboszlai’s choice of pass at this moment is so bright. He’s got Diogo Jota and Diaz making runs on the shoulder of De Ligt and Martinez but has a glance up and sees that Diogo Dalot is well behind Mohamed Salah, and weights the ball perfectly. 

He metaphorically fell off a cliff from February onwards, Szoboszlai, but has made a very good start to the season in a slightly new role. His composure and efficiency with the ball seem to have improved and his work-rate has been tremendous so far - the most ball recoveries in the team today.

Of course, pissing about and taking selfies in the box with the goal at his mercy in the second half is pretty poor, but let’s just rewind to the first goal, and his crucial intervention (or lack of one). He does unbelievably well to duck under the ball when he suddenly realises that Diaz is better placed to finish.

This is a goal of excellence in all facets. Gravenberch’s win and carry, and his pass to Salah. For Salah to find that first-time cross, on his right foot, is remarkable. Diaz’s body shape is perfect as he arrives on the scene and heads the ball into the one part of the goal that Onana can’t get to.

Diaz is another player that Slot has seemingly had an impact on. He’s more involved in and around the penalty area than he’s ever been, and both of his goals today are first-time finishes, something that’s been alien to him until recently.

The second goal is something he deserves a huge amount of credit for, because it’s just not a goal he’d have been scoring last season, or the season before. He presses Casemiro into submission - and well done to Anthony Taylor for not blowing for a foul like many referees do in this scenario - and quickly gets himself into a shooting position. The finish is so, so good. First-time, moving backwards to receive it, drilled straight into the corner. Terrific finish.

Aside from the goals, Diaz is everywhere and gives Mazaroui a pretty difficult first half. He’s making good decisions with the ball and seems to be linking up really with Szoboszlai when he comes into the half-space.

Gravenberch and Diaz are both desperately unlucky not to receive my Man of the Match award, but I again feel obliged to recognise the contribution of Mohamed Salah.

This is the best start he’s made to a season in his eight seasons at Liverpool. We’ve scored seven goals so far and he’s scored three and assisted the other four.

I could wax lyrical about his right-footed cross for the Diaz header but how about the trivela pass with the outside of the boot for the second goal? Two absolutely sublime assists.

His goal is a confident, first-time stroke of the ball which Onana really should be saving. Salah will know that it isn’t his best strike of the ball by any means, but his all-round play has been outstanding in all three games so far.

He’s the difference-maker against United so many times and is the one Liverpool player who hasn’t been plagued by Old Trafford in recent times - today is the seventh consecutive visit that he’s scored at the stadium - with three wins, two draws and two defeats in those seven games. In his ten appearances at Old Trafford, it’s eleven goals there.

Slot looks to have had a transformational impact on Salah’s performances and enjoyment in the early part of this season. He looks a million miles away from the player who was off-form and off-colour from March until May. 

His contract continues to be a discussion point. What I will say is that despite some loss of pace over the years, his football brain and IQ is a much bigger asset to him and it’s this that’s helping him continue to be an elite player. His awareness, decision-making and level of execution is among the best in the world, still.

In terms of forwards, there’s only Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Harry Kane and Antoine Griezmann that could’ve produced his performance today.

An acute way of appreciating Salah’s extended brilliance is to cast a cursory glance at Casemiro today. As recently as 16 months ago, he was still one of the best midfielders in the world. 

Liverpool have been on the receiving end of monstrous performances from him in Champions League finals for Real Madrid in 2018 and 2022. His last six months for United have been utterly disastrous.

Even as non-United fans, it’s always devastating to see time catch up with a once-world class footballer at the rate it’s hit Casemiro lately.

Salah still producing what he does, at his age, is a reminder of his status as one of the greatest to ever grace this club and this league.

He belongs in the Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Sergio Aguero, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo conversations. An incredible football player.

There’s two other players out of contract at the end of the season and both are also making very strong cases for extensions. Virgil Van Dijk leads Liverpool in immense fashion today, next to another huge performance from Ibrahima Konate.

I think Trent Alexander-Arnold has another really good game defensively, and it’s notable how aggressive he is in his one-v-one defending today, particularly against Marcus Rashford. One of my few criticisms of Klopp was Alexander-Arnold being allowed to get away with too little defensive responsibility, but Slot looks to have nailed that down early on.

At going 0-3 up, Liverpool shut the game down as a contest. They don’t go desperately chasing the fourth and instead focus on conserving energy and maintaining the clean sheet.

Joshua Zirkzee has a couple of chances and while the xG for the two teams ends up being very similar, it’s very important to mention that 81% of United’s xG comes after Liverpool go 0-3 up.

This was a Pep Guardiola-like performance in how Liverpool dissected an inferior team away from home by playing to our strengths and their weaknesses: consistently going through the middle and overloading them with numbers in the box. 

Using the 3-2-5 in possession again allowed us to play and penetrate through the middle and United were unable to contain us because of how well we used the ball and the fluidity of the players’ positions and movement.

If we’d produced that ruthlessness at Old Trafford in the two meetings last season, we’d have got a lot closer to the league title or the FA Cup.

The signing of Federico Chiesa is a good one. I wish we’d done more. The Champions League fixtures are pretty tough and, whilst far from the priority, so is the League Cup tie. I wish we had a little more quality in depth.

But, the first eleven is purring. No-one could’ve asked for a better start.

Daniel