Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United: Post-Match Analysis

Despite having the bulk of possession, Liverpool were unable to break down a Manchester United side that had come to Anfield purely to defend. Mourinho essentially adopted a slightly less ambitious version of the game plan that saw Burnley take all three points off Klopp’s men earlier this season – the emphasis was firmly on defence, with seven or eight men routinely behind the ball. In fairness it was executed well, and Liverpool rarely threatened; they did manage two dangerous efforts, but both were saved excellently by De Gea. Manchester United looked even less likely to score than the hosts did, failing to spring any sort of counter-attacks despite seemingly being set up to do so: Zlatan Ibrahimović made a mess of their only real opportunity. On balance, 0-0 was probably a fair reflection on a drab match.

It was apparent from the outset that this was not going to be a game that lived up to the considerable hype. Indeed, given the gargantuan reputation of both sides, the lack of quality on display was astounding – loose touches, stray passes and poor decision-making abounded, culminating in an opening period full of scrappy turnovers of possession in the middle of the park. Henderson, who has been very good in the last few games, was particularly culpable in this respect. The visitors probably looked the least bad, but they were far from good: the only moments of anxiety for the Anfield faithful were caused by highly questionable decision-making from new signing Loris Karius, rather than any great attacking prowess on United’s part. Liverpool did pick up a little towards the end of the half, but could produce nothing better than a tame Firmino header straight at De Gea.

Any attacking impetus United had possessed in the first half vanished in the second. Liverpool dictated the game, dominating possession and probing the United defence to try and find gaps. This was of no use though, as an odd combination of lack of urgency and lack of composure meant that the home side could not find the breakthrough. The lack of urgency manifested itself in a failure, in the most part, to run at defenders and really stretch United’s back line. The exception to this would be Can, who drove the team forward a few times with powerful runs from deep. Can, however, was also one of the most culpable on the lack of composure front – he, along with others, wasted a few well-worked positions by taking on overly ambitious long-range strikes. Long shots do not have a high conversion percentage, and are not a sustainable method of triumphing over the low block; they can be excused from a specialist like Coutinho, who has demonstrated that there is some repeatability to his goals from range, but in general the best idea is to try and pass a way through. Indeed, the biggest opportunity of the game came from a lovely ball into the path of Can on the edge of the area. The German was unable to create space with his first touch, and consequently had to writhe past a couple of defenders before snatching a shot away, but it nonetheless forced an excellent save from De Gea.

The other major chance came from an aforementioned Coutinho long shot. It was a trademark move, cutting in from the left and curling it with his right foot towards the top right hand corner. David De Gea was equal to it, however, stretching to turn the ball past the post. Frustrating as this was for the hosts, on balance it was not a game that anybody deserved to win. One minor positive for Liverpool is that it was their first clean sheet of the season, although as Klopp hinted at in the post-match press conference this is something of a bittersweet achievement in the circumstances. Perhaps the bigger positive is that Manchester United felt the need to simply shut up shop – big teams fear us once more. This is not without cause: the 0-0 is a blip in an otherwise generally superb start to the season, and this result should not dent confidence. Not every team can defend as well as a Mourinho outfit, and with a nice run of fixtures on the horizon Klopp’s men will be hopeful of a return to free-scoring ways before long.
-James Martin
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