Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool: Four Things We Learned

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Manchester United have finally won their first match of the season and what a match it was. The Red Devils defeated Liverpool at Old Trafford in the clash of England’s greatest clubs, with Erik ten Hag’s side surprisingly outplaying Jurgen Klopp’s now struggling side. Man United got an early lead through Jadon Sancho, with the Liverpool defence startled and Virgil van Dijk having problems to contain United’s attack. Marcus Rashford was the one to double the lead, when Anthony Martial assisted him, while Mohamed Salah only managed to pull one goal back with 10 minutes to go. It was too late by then and United have gotten themselves their first win of the season, but in a fashion that will boost the team’s morale drastically.

Ten Hag Gets The Boost He Needed

After Manchester United made the worst possible start of the new season and were sitting bottom of the Premier League standings two matches in, Erik ten Hag finally led the team to a victory which will be a huge boost to him and his players. Even though many were more suspicious of the club’s policies rather than Ten Hag’s tactical acumen, the Dutchman has now outwitted Jurgen Klopp and managed to show a potential blueprint to how the Devils could play and get results against the best teams in the country. United had proper intensity, work rate and attitude, which is also something Ten Hag praised for a good reason after the game. This was miles away from the last performance against Brentford.

Malacia Shines Against Salah

It was not as expected this summer that United would bring in another left back when they already had Luke Shaw and Alex Telles, but it seems Ten Hag knew fully well why he wanted to sign Tyrell Malacia. The Dutch left-back joined from Feyenoord and shined against Liverpool. His duties were not simple ones, considering he had to pay attention to Mohamed Salah. Despite the Egyptian’s late goal, Malacia did a great job. He was constantly anticipating and cutting off the throughballs for Salah. He was bold when going forwards too and it will be interesting to see where will Malacia go from this point on.

Rashford Loves Playing Liverpool

There is something between Marcus Rashford and Liverpool. The Manchester born and bred really loves making it a misery for the big rivals, with Rashford once again scoring in this clash. In fact, there is no club Rashford has scored more goals against. This was his sixth against Liverpool, as many as he had put past Leicester. Considering how poor Rashford looked recently and that for the most part of the last season he was not in great form, this match was a complete opposite. Rashford’s runs were timed properly, he constantly applied pressure and managed to get a goal which could be a start of his return to his best self.

Liverpool Midfield In Serious Problems

Liverpool were known for their never-tiring midfield which set the tempo of matches at the highest level and which knew how to crush and overrun the opponent. This time, they were as far from that as they could be. Klopp’s midifeld trio of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Harvey Elliott was clearly unable to cope with the intensity and they lacked in supplying the balls to Salah and Luis Diaz in particular.

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