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MOTD: Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool

By on December 14, 2014

For all the early surprises – both sides opting for a back three, Liverpool starting with no recognized forward, and Jordan Henderson playing wing-back – this match came and went without many extreme plot twists. Liverpool dominated midfield, but starting without a single forward in their lineup, they couldn’t find the back of the net once with nineteen shots, as many might have expected without last year’s sorely missed duo of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge. Their performance was akin to many others they have put in this season.

United, on the other hand, couldn’t keep Liverpool from slicing their defense apart, only for David De Gea’s brilliance and their stocked attacking line to snatch the win. Just last week they did the same against Southampton, and before that Arsenal.

Though in the merry-go-round of Premier League football there is now a 21 point gap from where these teams were when last they met, neither this nor Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Old Trafford last season went without reason. United then were at their lowest point, but continued their upward curve today. Liverpool were at their height in those same weeks when they faced United last season, yet now reach rock bottom, having been knocked out of the Champions League and tied Sunderland all in just the previous eight days. For all the changes, you can’t say they unexpected after United’s summer additions and with Liverpool losing Suarez. United now sit third in the table, and Liverpool a full ten points below in tenth – if any one match sums up the two clubs’ seasons so far, it would be this fixture.

Liverpool’s dominance, for one, turned out to be completely irrelevant in the final score. Sure, they haven’t played near their best football this season, but their inability to finish has severely inhibited them, especially tonight. To be fair, though, they were facing quite the goalkeeper. David De Gea drew his record for most saves in a single game in United colors, making nine in the space of ninety minutes, the same number he did against Tottenham Hotspur in 2011. If anything, he was the lynchpin that kept United in the game. It seemed like every time Liverpool were in a great situation at the perfect time for the match to swing, De Gea came up big.

For United’s performance hardly justified the final score either. In the beginning they were simply dreadful, and as has been noted whenever they play with three at the back could not play the ball into midfield. At times, Wayne Rooney had to drop all the way back into the center-back line to receive the ball and turn. Liverpool were pressing them high up the pitch, and twelve minutes in would have been a crucial time for them to score. And on the break, Adam Lallana’s reverse pass down the left side of the box perfectly slid into the run of Raheem Sterling, who should have scored, only to poke a low shot straight at De Gea. Just twenty-five seconds later with one of their first passages of play in the final third, United grabbed the chance of an opener right out from Liverpool’s noses. Antonio Valencia schooled Joe Allen down the right with a nutmeg, but Liverpool, looking uncomfortable in a back three, were tied up with James Wilson and Robin Van Persie, allowing Valencia all the time in the world to cut the ball back to Wayne Rooney, who had peeled away from Philippe Coutinho, on the edge of the box. Making no mistake, Rooney curled a clinical finish into the bottom right corner.

All the shaky defensive work was making for an entertaining fair, however, and seventeen minutes in Steven Gerrard’s deflected thirty yard effort forced De Gea into work. Then five minutes later Sterling found himself in an almost identical position to his chance before United’s goal, only to once again miss as De Gea pulled off another fabulous save with a strong right hand. But they could score, simple as that. Sterling, who looked unconfident himself, was their only forward on the pitch, with Lallana and Coutinho playing far more like attacking midfielders. United, on the other hand, could finish. Thirty-nine minutes in with basically their second good chance of the match, they went up 2-0. Some will call it lucky, as when Van Persie flicked on Ashley Young’s cross from the left Juan Mata was offside, yet the Spaniard finished off the chance nonetheless with a diving header. It was the pinnacle of clinical football and counter attacks.

Yet Sterling then saw De Gea not only save but bring down his eight yard header from Jordan Henderson’s cross, and though Mario Balotelli came on at halftime it hardly got any better for Liverpool. Just moments in the second period Sterling headed over, then four minutes in could have completely changed the dynamic of the game by cutting out Jonny Evans’ incredibly stupid backpass. In miles of space Sterling was one-on-one with De Gea, and after neglecting to take an easy shot with space rounded the Spanish goalkeeper, yet again decided against shooting at the key moment with a clear sight of an open goal, allowing De Gea to get back to somehow make the stop when he finally did shoot. He missed, all because he was unwilling to shoot with his left foot. Of course, United went right back down the other end, although this time Bradley Jones made a relatively simple save to deny Rooney’s low effort from the edge if the box.

Liverpool were dominating, yet United saw another big chance, with Van Persie’s low snapshot whizzing inches wide of the near post from Valencia’s low cross. Yet of course, De Gea kept Louis Van Gaal’s men in the game to give them another chance at a crucial third goal. Sixty-five minutes in Balotelli had surely thought he’d score on the turn from Sterling’s cut-back, but De Gea’s incredible lightning reactions made him somehow able to just tip the six yard shot onto the crossbar and away with the slightest of touches. It was a truly incredible save, and, as you may have guessed, United went down the other end and five minutes later took an unbridgeable 3-0 lead. Mata slipped Rooney in down the left on the break, and when Rooney’s low cross was cleared back out to him fed it to Van Persie on the right side of the box, who curled it into the back of the net. Balotelli would force De Gea into even more good saves and come close wide of goal with a long range screamer, yet the gap was just to big to cross. Van Gaal felt comfortable enough to bring on Falcao for the closing stages, and Van Persie actually came close to making it four and forced Jones into a good stop to tip over his volley from the edge of the area. And given his form, replicating that which he has shown of late, he was almost unlucky not to get a second. Liverpool, on the flip side, had all the chances and more, yet couldn’t even find one.
Man of the Match: Wayne Rooney

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.