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Manchester United blend new and old in 3-1 defeat of Liverpool

By on September 13, 2015

Louis van Gaal has a classic Dutch sense of humor. His deadpan jokes often come off seriously and after his Manchester United side trounced Liverpool 3-1 today, he said: “I think Liverpool is a fantastic club because I have won every game against them.” He has a point, United having scored eight and allowed just two goals to Liverpool under Van Gaal.

But just as often, he’s serious when you think he must surely be joking. Like when a manager who seems to love free-flowing, creative football said he preferred the non-event that was the first half to an action-packed second period; or paying £36 million for a teenager Anthony Martial; selling or loaning all his forwards bar Wayne Rooney then starting Marouane Fellaini up top with Rooney out injured. It was this wonderfully bizarre mix of the new and old Manchester United that put three past Liverpool.

In the end, the joke was on Brendan Rodgers’ men. Apart from one breathtaking moment of class from Christian Benteke to drag Liverpool one goal back with a superb overhead kick, Liverpool were sloppy on the ball and lacked creativity. For the other eighty-nine minutes of the match, Benteke was far removed from the game and of the starting outfielders, only his partner up front Danny Ings and Juan Mata made fewer touches on the ball. Benteke’s heat map distinctively lacked heat but for the explosion that was his bicycle kick and his aerial dominance flickered on and off.

However, United had similar trouble breaking down Liverpool in the first half. Liverpool sat surprisingly deep and ceded the possession to United but Felllaini struggled as a lone forward. He is used to having runners to play off of his hold off play in a deeper second-forward role but struggled to fulfill the duty of actually making those runs down the lines himself up front. Liverpool did a good job of muting his aerial power and during corners he was marked by both Nathaniel Clyne and Martin Skrtel. Per Whoscored, the Belgian only won two aerial challenges in the entire game.

United only scored the opener four minutes into the second half, with Juan Mata squaring a short free-kick for Daley Blind to curl into the top left corner from the edge of the box.

Liverpool, to their credit, reacted well. Danny Ings found himself in down the left side of the box and saw a close-range side volley bounce into the ground and up, only for De Gea to fling himself in the air and claw the ball away. Daley Blind proved his defensive worth as he twice cleared the ball of a line in a goal-line scramble following a Liverpool corner in the sixty-forth minute but right when Rodgers’ men looked as if they might score, Ander Herrara went right down the other end and won a penalty from a late Joe Gomez tackle. Herrera himself buried the spot-kick to give United a comfortable lead.

Yet Liverpool weren’t beaten and Benteke’s miracle finish, a cleanly hit, whipping bicycle kick from fifteen yards out, gave Liverpool hope with six minutes to go. Martial came on and quickly snuffed out that hope, taking on three men down the left before curling a composed low finish into the bottom right corner. He provided runs down the lines that Fellaini lacked and paid off the first installment of his transfer fee. Today, even Van Gaal’s most “ridiculous” decisions looked just that much less ridiculous.

Homepage photo credit: By André Zahn, via Wikimedia Commons

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.