PL D FA Premier League

Liverpool 0:0 Manchester United

Post-match discussion


Sun, 17 January 2021

Roane

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Enjoyed the game if I'm honest.

Think it says a lot that most are disappointed we didn't win. Means we have come a long way.

Think the world and his mum knew liverpool would start fast, simply because they are about 10/11 days rest. Ole got the selection spot on. Lindelof was an inspired start in the end.

Liverpool did start well and always felt we needed to see out the first half hour or so, think commentators said the same. So no real surprises there.

Wasn't sure about Pogba on the right but he played well. Maybe should have scored but goalkeeper got in way.

Rashford playing as if still injured and Bruno looks tired.

Cavani coming on helped as he stays up front, something we seem to struggle with when on a break sometimes, simply not enough players rushing forward.

Think we underestimate Liverpools chances. Firminho had a great chance but scuffed his shot.

Over all pleased with the point. Not too worried about possession as it seems to be our way currently. Disappointed in the end as we could have taken the three points. As I said says a lot about how we ended the game and wher we are as a team overall.

Onwards and upwards
 
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goldenballs

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We need to learn how to keep possession from a throw in. 95% of today's throws, resulted in lost possession. Has been a season long problem. Happy with a draw today, you just know Liverpool were giving it their all and failed. Happy days.
 

reelworld

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2 makeshift CBs, but let's be honest. Fabinho is probably still one of the best CBs in the league.
I think playing Martial and Rashford is probably playing into their hands abit. Neither was aerially strong and Liverpool CBs have enough pace to deal with our strikers speed. You can see the difference that Cavani made when a true striker came on that doesn't really rely on pace.
I can see the logic behind the decision though.
 

VictoriaRed

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This: 100% agree!

We need to learn how to keep possession from a throw in. 95% of today's throws, resulted in lost possession. Has been a season long problem. Happy with a draw today, you just know Liverpool were giving it their all and failed. Happy days.
 

LUC1f3R

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Cavani should have started imo. At the same time, I believe Ole thought Liv WBs will push high and Utd can hit on the counter against their makeshift CBs. But Martial was poor and should be dropped for next game. Let him be an impact sub for now.

Would have loved if Shaw had put in some crosses when Cavani was inside the box. Cavani is a good header of the ball but it felt that Utd weren't interested in utilising his skills (far too many side passes in their final third)

Shaw was excellent (Salah couldn't get over him) and Lindelof was better than Maguire, but I still felt Bailley's pace would have helped in some situation (Lindelof made up with his reading of the game though). Feels like we need an elite & pacy Defender to complement Maguire.

Fernandes was missing his passing edge, whereas Pogba was good but many a times he took too many touches.

Greenwood should have been brought earlier for Rashford (atleast 20+ min for him)
 

mitchmouse

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What I take from the game is we are a little better than I gave us credit for (helps when we don't give away stupid goals) - and Liverpool are not as good as I thought (what the hell has happened to Sane and Salah; not that I really care!)

There were some very good performances, notably, as most people seem to agree, Luke Shaw but also Lindelof; been saying for a while he reads the game far better than Maguire or Bailly (I think Bailly is good too and would show it if given a run; his speed can get him out of trouble).

In midfield, I wish Scotty and Fred were one player (!). Both are good at breaking things up and McT is good in the air at the back (I do wonder i he might become a CB), but the fact that we need two of them is annoying and means we don't have another creativity. Pogba is showing more maturity in getting back and defending (and also gets his head on a lot in our penalty area) but he is also annoying in that he so often loses the ball after doing something good. He was very good in the first half but faded in the second against a not exactly potent Liverpool midfield. And I agree with Keano, he really should have scored. If we ever had CB injuries like Liverpool had, I wonder if Pogba and Scotty could play there!

Up front continues to bug me. We so obviously need a top-class winger and a real goal scorer. Martial and Rashord, in different ways, had very poor games and I have no idea why Cavani didn't get on earlier or start, and it was crazy that Donny didn't get on at all - things like this make me think Ole isn't learning anything at all and just sticks with the same old players in the same old shape and the same old tactics.

Overall, I'd have settled for a point before kick off (not realising Liverpool didn't have any fit CBs) but can't help thinking City would have gone on and won this game and that we aren't serious title contenders without reinforcements
 

Shiva87

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Decent result but I am getting a bit bored of these 0-0 draws in big games. Chelsea, City and now Liverpool.

We need to show more ambition in these games but I guess that's for another time. At the moment, I think the coaching staff have taken the view that this team needs to build confidence, and believe in their ability to win titles. To do this, first and foremost you should not lose to your rivals/ other challengers. It builds confidence that we are as good (if not better) than them.

If we keep this up and win the smaller games to be in or around the top of the league after playing 30-32 games, we will have gone a good job for this season. Then we can have a real crack at the league!
 

SoCross

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The games two best chances came from our fullbacks pushing up. Wonderful to see that and shows that it’s not “negative cowardly” football as some like to proclaim and that Shaw and AWB are well capable to attack.

A proper right winger will do us wonders.
 

justsomebloke

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Didn't have a "clear lane" to Cavani? What are you on about.
Literally any other premier league striker who has played for even a season would have played that pass.

Even Carragher was crapping himself at the break.

To come away without even getting a shot on target was more frustrating then the later chances.
No, he did not have a clear lane to Cavani. Watch it carefully.
 

justsomebloke

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The pass to Cavani was the obvious choice to make in that situation so Fabinho was trying to cut that out but what Rashford didn't realise is that Fabinho is also pre-occupied with his run while trying to cover the pass to Cavani.
Cavani is also going full tilt at this point and has clear sight on goal.
Rashford made the wrong decision to try an go between the 2 defenders. One pass to the left of Fabinho and Cavani cuts across him so one of two things happen:
- Fabinho trips Cavani inside the box as Cavani cuts across (penalty and possible red card) OR,
- Fabinho allows Cavani to cross him to his left and has chance 1 on 1 vs the goalkeeper.

Both above situations favour us.
What? Fabinho isn't alone - there is a second defender closely marking Cavani. He has no lane to Cavani between the two Liverpool defenders. He can't pass left because the Other Liv D would get to that before Cavani does. And he can't dribble left because then he basically runs into Cavani. He could stop, but then Fabinho is on him.
 

justsomebloke

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I think of all people this would be a moot point when discussing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But if that is the case then why even bother with the bench then? Why pay tens of millions for squad players if they’re generally ineffective?

To think that the likes of Mata or VDB with far more creative talent than McT and Fred couldn’t have had ANY impact on the match is preposterous. Why do you think Bruno was so agitated about going off, because in any moment he could have pulled off a match-winning assist, just like VDB or Mata could have if given the opportunity.
What i wrote was that substitutions mostly have no significant impact on a game. Any substitutions, by any manager. In the minds of fans, you have these awesone tools on your bench through which a manager can and should chsnge the course of a game. In reality, it's mostly someone comes on and plays 10 or 15 minutes and makes little to no difference compared to who was already on. And that goes for every manager. Sometimes it can matter, but mostly it doesn't. And if you think having Mata on for 15 minutes instead of Fred would have critically altered our chances of winning this game...
 

Jeffthered

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It was a tense game rather than anything else. OGS is too nervous, lacks courage and ambition, his approach to this and other matches against better opponents highlights this. We never seek to dominate and win these big games, rather it seems we are hoping for the odd chance, and that the opposition don't take their chances, or simply do not perform. Liverpool took the game to us, and we were fortunate not to concede.


The game then became a little boring, and then we eventually sniffed out two chances.

Of course we take the point, OGS looked relieved at the end, but I worry that this way of playing ultimately, will continue to be limited, in terms of ambition and outcome. We don't 'deserve' to win things when we play like this, and it does not reflect the character of Manchester United FC.

OGS, Carrick (who I think was a brilliant football player ..), Phelan, Fletcher.. all lovely and loyal Utd people, and we need people like that at the club...but they all, all, lack that edge, that 'bite' , that instinct to dominate, lead, express. This style of football is opportunistic and will continue to be questioned unless it wins trophies.

Shaw, Maguire played v well. Pogba has to be at the central heart of what we do when he is playing well... Where on earth was he playing yesterday?

Firminho was awful, just awful, thankfully!
 

Longshanks

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If offered the draw beforehand I would of accepted it but after the game it really does feel like two points dropped.

The front four lacked composure I lost count of the amount I shouted 'take a touch' when yet another daft first time impossible ball ended up back with liverpool. The few times we take a touch and put our foot on the ball we created the best chances so frustrating.

Not sure why people are beasting rashford for not passing to cavani, I'm not sure the pass was on and he was more then entiltiled to take the defenders on with no clear pass available.

Couple of other points, how did thiago not get booked? Constant tactical fouls and no booking. Also when fabiniho gets booked for taking down cavani it should of been a Red IMO at the very least it should of been VAR checked for DOAGSO, fabiniho makes no attempt to play the ball and although there was a covering defender there was also bruno who was on his own in the penalty area,who would of had a goalscoring opportunity if cavani hadn't been tripped.
 

POF

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It really is a sign of the progress under Ole that United go to Anfield where Liverpool have a long unbeaten record, United's best players are below par and still come away disappointed with a draw.

United had all of the clear chances and really should have scored. Rashford recreating the highlights of Pippo Inzaghi by running needlessly offside probably cost him another 3 clear chances.

All of the talk of Liverpool's "injuries", they're missing 3 centre backs. Under Fergie that would have been the cleanest bill of health in a decade.
 

Eire Red United

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Decent enough performance, thought everyone bar Rashford, Bruno and Martial who were all very disappointing did reasonably well. Luke Shaw was outstanding, made Salah look like Gabriel Obertan.
 

Fredo

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From going to Anfield worrying about how many goals we will concede to us being pissed off for not taking away all the 3 points yesterday shows the progress we have made.
The result was fair given our inability to finish our chances. We did the defensive part quite well, but our forwards were disappointing in their final decision on the ball, when it mattered most, whether it's Rashy, Martial, Bruno. This has been happening in the last few games, just seems the forwards are over-doing it at times.

Overall happy with the point as they also had some moments where they could have scored out of the blue... Shaw Motm for me.
 

justsomebloke

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It was a tense game rather than anything else. OGS is too nervous, lacks courage and ambition, his approach to this and other matches against better opponents highlights this. We never seek to dominate and win these big games, rather it seems we are hoping for the odd chance, and that the opposition don't take their chances, or simply do not perform. Liverpool took the game to us, and we were fortunate not to concede.


The game then became a little boring, and then we eventually sniffed out two chances.

Of course we take the point, OGS looked relieved at the end, but I worry that this way of playing ultimately, will continue to be limited, in terms of ambition and outcome. We don't 'deserve' to win things when we play like this, and it does not reflect the character of Manchester United FC.

OGS, Carrick (who I think was a brilliant football player ..), Phelan, Fletcher.. all lovely and loyal Utd people, and we need people like that at the club...but they all, all, lack that edge, that 'bite' , that instinct to dominate, lead, express. This style of football is opportunistic and will continue to be questioned unless it wins trophies.

Shaw, Maguire played v well. Pogba has to be at the central heart of what we do when he is playing well... Where on earth was he playing yesterday?

Firminho was awful, just awful, thankfully!
Really don't see the case for this interpretation. It didn't look to me like anyone was happy with one point yesterday, and also OGS was clear in the post-match commentary that he was disappointed. They clearly have the ambition to dominate and win these games, they just aren't good enough to do so, at this point.

Pogba played on the right, and he played well too.
 

justsomebloke

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That feels like a bit of an assumption. Cavani is no slowpoke.
It's no more of an assumption than arguing that it's a good passing opportunity. The defender isn't a slowpoke either, he's got two steps on him and he is on the right side of the ball and has to cover a significantly smaller distance than Cavani to get to it. Making that pass would have been a bad call - and in any case, it certainly is not by any stretch of imagination a clear best option to the extent that you can reasonably call out Rashford for not making it.

With the benefit of hindsight, his best option seems to be to pause for a step and feed it over to Pogba, who's coming on a deep run far to the right. But I doubt he sees him.
 

Jonno

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Even Ole agrees with me. Straight from the horses mouth:



I'm not saying we played like absolute rubbish, but the opportunity was there to beat them today, and we didn't do enough to deserve the win, and that frustrates me as I know we were easily capable of doing so today.
There's a difference between a media-trained response to what he will have said to the players at full time. He'll have said we were very unlucky not to put 1 of 2 excellent chances away. There's a reason why he congratulated Allison at full time and not DDG. That's because one keeper had to keep their team in the game.
 

theklr

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In some games it feel they are going down in a low block to let the other team exhaust themselves trying to score, and then go at it second half.... I dunno if thats intentional or not
 

Olecurls99

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We were way to respectful with our set up in the first half. We needed to keep 2 up top to make Liverpool back off. Ole changed it in the second half and we got a foothold in the game. We need to learn from this. 4-5-1 should never be a United formation.
 

Berbasbullet

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Really don't see the case for this interpretation. It didn't look to me like anyone was happy with one point yesterday, and also OGS was clear in the post-match commentary that he was disappointed. They clearly have the ambition to dominate and win these games, they just aren't good enough to do so, at this point.

Pogba played on the right, and he played well too.
Ole was obviously disappointed, you saw it in his body language at the end when he was walking around with his head in the air. Gave off the “aaah we almost won that” vibe to me.

The plan was obviously cavani at the hour mark, and to then be more progressive, which we were, and subsequently created 2 amazing chances from fullbacks overlapping.
 

GBBQ

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On the whole I am happy with the result; I think it proved we're not quite at title challenge level yet but that we're progressing nicely.

A few tactical decisions definitely didn't do us any favours. It was a big mistake not starting Cavani; Martial's form has been poor and (surprise surprise) that continued into yesterday's match. I would have given Cavani 60 minutes at least and then brought on Martial / Greenwood towards the end to inject a little pace after, hopefully, the CBs having been run ragged. Similarly I don't know why Pogba was playing on the right for the opening, having him and AWB as our delivery from the right was dreadful to watch.
 

justsomebloke

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On the whole I am happy with the result; I think it proved we're not quite at title challenge level yet but that we're progressing nicely.

A few tactical decisions definitely didn't do us any favours. It was a big mistake not starting Cavani; Martial's form has been poor and (surprise surprise) that continued into yesterday's match. I would have given Cavani 60 minutes at least and then brought on Martial / Greenwood towards the end to inject a little pace after, hopefully, the CBs having been run ragged. Similarly I don't know why Pogba was playing on the right for the opening, having him and AWB as our delivery from the right was dreadful to watch.
I thought Pogba did very well in the first half. We did struggle defensively on that side though.
 

Judas

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Woken up a bit gutted to be honest. Thought I would. We should have beaten them, and put ourselves in a brilliant position. But lets face it, we're still in a great spot, somewhere no one would have predicted a month or so ago.
 

Inigo Montoya

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I thought Pogba did very well in the first half. We did struggle defensively on that side though.
He and Shaw took the game to them. A great shame that Bruno,Rashy and Martial are in a bit of a funk right now or that game is 2/3-0
 

Hughes35

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Doesn't need much analysis really.

1. Draw at Anfield is never a bad result
2. The back 4 was excellent (Especially Shaw)
3. Bruno was awful, the rest of the attack poor-average
4. We need to find a way to gain a proper foot hold in big games as we really do play like the underdogs
5. Still in a title race, City still the best bet.
 

lysglimt

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Don't get me wrong - I am not a big fan of Liverpool, but I can appreciate a good footballing-side. So when their fans were a bit arrogant last season, I felt they were entitled to be just that.
But the strange thing is - both Klopp, the fans and the players actually seem more arrogant now, when their team performs a lot worse. They are not a very good side at the moment, but when you hear Klopp, the players (like Henderson yesterday) - and the fans - they still think of themselves as at least one level above everyone else apart from maybe City. It's like they are living in the past.

The look from Henderson yesterday when he was asked if Liverpool felt they should have won it since United felt they should have won it ? He was like - "they felt THEY should won it ? Who said that ?" - "Right, interesting"

The fact is - DDG probably had the easiest game of his career away from Old Trafford - and realistically, unless Liverpool regain some form - they could be out of the title race in 3-4 games. I can not see City dropping any points from the next 3 games - and they are already 4 points behind them if they win against Villa. There is no way they will ever catch 7-8 points on City in their current form.

But they still think they are as good as last season - and the longer they think so, the better for everyone else.
 

Litch

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People wish McFred could be one player with a better passing range - even prime Kante wasn't that. There are DM with great passing range but they often stay in one position and dictate play. I think this is what we need to play along side either Fred or Scott.....
 

justsomebloke

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Up front continues to bug me. We so obviously need a top-class winger and a real goal scorer. Martial and Rashord, in different ways, had very poor games and I have no idea why Cavani didn't get on earlier or start, and it was crazy that Donny didn't get on at all - things like this make me think Ole isn't learning anything at all and just sticks with the same old players in the same old shape and the same old tactics.

Overall, I'd have settled for a point before kick off (not realising Liverpool didn't have any fit CBs) but can't help thinking City would have gone on and won this game and that we aren't serious title contenders without reinforcements
You mean the same old players and same old shape and same old tactics that's brought us to the top of the table?

And where exactly is the basis for an assumption that DvdB would have been likely to have a huge positive impact, to the extent that it could reasonably be said to be "crazy" not to bring him on? I hope he succeeds as much as anyone, but he has yet to have a decisive impact on any game he's played. This is just pure wishful thinking. All in all, I'm pretty pleased that Ole hasn't "learned" that.

This is where we are. This is how good we are right now. It's not about selections, and the tactics and formation were pretty much the same as they usually are. Which probably means you're right in your last point, that we aren't serious title contenders without reinforcements. Which shouldn't surprise us, really.
 

theklr

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On the whole I am happy with the result; I think it proved we're not quite at title challenge level yet but that we're progressing nicely.

A few tactical decisions definitely didn't do us any favours. It was a big mistake not starting Cavani; Martial's form has been poor and (surprise surprise) that continued into yesterday's match. I would have given Cavani 60 minutes at least and then brought on Martial / Greenwood towards the end to inject a little pace after, hopefully, the CBs having been run ragged. Similarly I don't know why Pogba was playing on the right for the opening, having him and AWB as our delivery from the right was dreadful to watch.
Probably thought Cavani would be better as an impact sub when Martial and Rashford had been running at them for most of the game.

And/or probably thought Cavani cant last that long after playing the whole Burnley game.
 

Man of the Match

Luke Shaw image Luke Shaw 74% of 459 votes

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Score Predictions

157,79,83
  • Man Utd win
  • Liverpool win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 26% Liverpool 1:2 Man Utd
  • 18% Liverpool 1:1 Man Utd
  • 8% Liverpool 2:1 Man Utd
  • 8% Liverpool 2:0 Man Utd
  • 6% Liverpool 0:2 Man Utd
  • 5% Liverpool 0:1 Man Utd
  • 5% Liverpool 0:0 Man Utd
  • 5% Liverpool 1:3 Man Utd
  • 4% Liverpool 3:1 Man Utd
  • 3% Liverpool 2:2 Man Utd
  • 2% Liverpool 0:5 Man Utd
  • 2% Liverpool 3:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Liverpool 2:3 Man Utd
  • 2% Liverpool 0:3 Man Utd
  • 1% Liverpool 1:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Liverpool 1:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Liverpool 4:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Liverpool 4:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Liverpool 5:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Liverpool 5:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Liverpool 3:2 Man Utd
  • 0% Liverpool 3:4 Man Utd
Compiled from 319 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Liverpool
  2. Man Utd
Possession
66% 34%
Shots
17 8
Shots on Target
3 4
Corners
7 3
Fouls
15 6

Referee

Paul Tierney