Liverpool are now winless after three Premier League games and seven points from the top of the table after losing 2-1 to Manchester United on Monday night
Goals either side of half-time from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford propelled Erik Ten Hag’s side into a 2-0 lead with Mohamed Salah’s 81st-minute header enough to set nerves racing but not enough to force a leveller. Liverpool were once again slow starters - they have conceded first in every league game they have played this season - and were unable to break down an aggressive and determined Red Devils team at Old Trafford.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp was forced to start a al midfield three of James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Harvey Elliott due to a multitude of injuries while Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk paired at the back for the first time since the 7-2 defeat to Aston Villa in October 2020. While the loss to United was not as emphatic as that, it was no less disappointing.
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And here's what the national media had to say about it all.
Paul Joyce (via The Times )
“As United posted their first victory of the season, the whiff of crisis will fill the nostrils of Klopp today with his own side unrecognisable from the standards they have set for much of the past six years. It was Liverpool’s first league defeat of 2022, never mind just this campaign, and having humiliated United 5-0 here last season — and 4-0 at Anfield — they trudged off to the strains of “Glory, glory Man United” burning their ears.
“It is their worst start to a season for a decade and where United were energised, so Klopp saw his players perform sluggishly. Passes repeatedly went astray and moves disappeared down cul-de-sacs long before they threatened to test David de Gea, who had been reduced to a laughing stock in last weekend’s 4-0 drubbing by Brentford.
“Intensity is supposed to be Liverpool’s identity and what will concern Klopp is that there were only glimpses of that despite boasting 70 per cent of possession.”
Chris Bascombe (via The Telegraph )
“Jurgen Klopp began the season saying he wanted Liverpool’s players to be angry with the world. On a sobering evening at Old Trafford, their fury was directed at each other, Virgil van Dijk and James Milner’s constant bickering symptomatic of a disjointed performance and poor start to the season. Maybe the post-Sadio Mane world is bleaker than first imagined. Perhaps their indifferent form can, as Klopp suggests, be attributed to a ‘witch’s curse’ injuring key players.
“A more compelling argument is the risk Liverpool downplayed at the start of the season - that their title credentials would be undermined by a failure to strengthen in midfield - has bitten back sooner than Klopp thought plausible. To be outrun, out-muscled and generally overpowered by a Manchester United team they defeated 9-0 on aggregate last season was reflective of diminished power through Liverpool’s spine.
“Attributing the lack of midfield numbers solely to bad luck is disingenuous. Keita has been in treatment so much since he joined Liverpool, when he finally leaves - his cheerleaders probably citing lack of game time - they ought to name a medical ward at the training ground in his honour. Oxlade-Chamberlain has been plagued by injuries, and Thiago’s niggles have been a feature of his career. Thiago is at Liverpool to add balance to the midfield. Without him, there is a chronic lack of creativity.”
Jamie Jackson (via the Guardian )
“Liverpool were a ghost side; here, allowed zero leeway to impose themselves because Erik ten Hag’s team did exactly this in a victory which means United leapfrog their rivals, who are yet to enjoy a league win this season.
“Klopp had 10 players unavailable including several injured A-listers: Thiago Alcântara, Diogo Jota and Naby Keïta, plus the suspended Darwin Núñez. The manager’s preference for the functional 36-year-old Milner instead of Fabinho, a natural holding player whose legs were the best part of a decade younger, was a head-scratcher.
“Klopp was in moan mode when Luis Díaz was penalised for dropping Diogo Dalot. In his view the decision should have gone the other way. At play here was frustration at his side’s potency deficit, summed up by Liverpool’s first corner coming half an hour into the game.”
Richard Jolly (via The Independent )
“There were emblematic moments, snapshots of an awful evening. Roberto Firmino missed the ball completely when he could have directed a volley at goal. Trent Alexander-Arnold, often the supplier supreme, volleyed a cross way over everyone waiting in the penalty area. James Milner and Virgil van Dijk, normally unflappable characters, seemed to be conducting a running argument. When Jadon Sancho opened the scoring, a feint immediately before sent Milner sliding and Alisson diving in the wrong direction. It rather summed up how Liverpool lost their compass. This was a role reversal.
“United turned Liverpool’s strengths into weaknesses. Or maybe Liverpool did. Alexander-Arnold was left exposed, looking a weak link defensively. If it emphasised how Jordan Henderson can excel at the unflashy, selflessly protecting the full-back when used as the right-sided No 8, he was instead anchoring a much-changed midfield. In the biggest game of his career, Harvey Elliott offered less protection, if more quality on the ball. First Anthony Elanga and then Marcus Rashford got away from Alexander-Arnold with ease.
“Identities can evolve, just as teams mature or age but Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool used to be specialists at flying starts. Opponents had to ready themselves for an early assault. But for some of that time, they were personified by Firmino. Now the scurrier in chief chugs around in slow motion. When Klopp ran down the tunnel at half-time, it felt his top speed is now greater than the Brazilian’s. Perhaps his efforts have taken a toll and Firmino has gegenpressed himself into anonymity. Age is catching up with him, even if Milner, five years his senior, popped up everywhere, seeking to set a record as the world’s oldest box-to-box midfielder.
“Milner is the exception to many a rule but if it was a match to suggest six thirty-somethings is too many, the man closest to his 40th birthday was one of their more vibrant performers.”
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