Football has a remarkable habit of making fools of us all.
When it was pointed out after Liverpool’s surprise draw against Crystal Palace last Monday that Manchester United could go above Liverpool if it beat Jürgen Klopp’s side, it was with a smirk. Even after Liverpool’s patchy start to the season, such a thing seemed implausible. After all, United had beaten Liverpool only once in the last 12 league meetings, Liverpool had lost only one game—the Champions League final—all year and United had produced probably its worst performance in half a century at Brentford last Saturday. And yet United was good value for its 2–1 win.
United was quicker, slicker, tougher than Liverpool. It took its goals with efficiency, playing with the sort of verve on the counter that used to characterize it on the good days under Ole Gunnar Solskjær—before the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo and his static approach to center-forward play led to an unhelpful rethink. Notably, having got into such trouble last week against Brentford trying to pass out from the back, David de Gea took every goal-kick long. Given how uncomfortable the Spanish keeper is with the ball at his feet, that was probably a necessary compromise, but it is probably not a long-term solution for Erik ten Hag if he is to have United play remotely in the same way his Ajax did.
