Liverpool mercilessly hammered Manchester United by a 5-0 scoreline at Old Trafford. It was a completely dominating performance by the Merseyside team who didn’t commit any silly mistake in comparison to their opponents who had done many.
Man United hosted Liverpool with the hope that they will bring back their original form and turn back to winning ways in the Premier League. Having lost three games in four marches in the league now, their form has hit rock bottom.
Mohamed Salah had the best night than any other player as he scored a glorious hattrick in front of the Stretford End. Klopp’s monstrous Liverpool team had all the answers for the night. Meanwhile, Solskjaer’s disastrous Manchester United team had all the unwanted questions stuck with them as the final whistle blew.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 24, 2021
The first big chance of the match belonged to Manchester United when Bruno Fernandes had a lot of space to score as he came in a one-on-one situation with Alisson. But the Portuguese playmaker fired wide off the post to ruin the chance.
From there on, it was all Liverpool’s game to take. The first goal came very early within the fifth minute as Roberton Firmino picked up a good pass to Salah and the in-form attacker exposed the gap between United center-backs Maguire and Lindelof.
He ran with the ball and then passed it on to Naby Keita who was in the best opportunity to score and he did score. A cool and calm finish by Keita ensured that Liverpool start the game very bright.
The goal was a result of poor positioning of the United center-backs. This was not the only case where our defence was exposed as the second goal came up in a very similar manner in the 13th minute.
Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw fail to clear a cross and due to a lack of communication, Keita takes the ball away from them and lays it on to Trent Alexander Arnold who then provides a pinpoint pass for Diogo Jota to score from the centre of the box.
Manchester United didn’t create any threat from there on and even failed to learn from their mistakes. Liverpool kept slowing down the tempo of the game and then again attacking when they find the space. Their third goal came in the 38th minute and it was another poorly organized United defence that was at fault for not closing down Liverpool’s attackers.
Sahal and Firmino played a delightful one-two before passing it out to Jota who then passed it back to Salah. The striker’s shot was blocked and it patiently fell on the magical feet of Keita who got the space to find Salah with a low pass and the Egyptian winger hit a powerful close-range shot past David De Gea.
Manchester United had their hearts in the mouth even till the very end of the first half. Liverpool scored the fourth goal before half-time.
It was a beautiful passing game by Liverpool who passed the ball so quickly between Firmono then Jota then Salah whose shot was blocked and it went straight to Keita who then passed it back to Salah who scored a close-range goal to double his tally.
4 – Manchester United are four goals behind at the half-time interval in the @premierleague for the very first time. Smashed. pic.twitter.com/SdunQYeSKU
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 24, 2021
Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were expected to show some strong reply to their devastating performance and at least score some consolations. But they even failed to do that.
They got a chance to score their first goal of the game when Ronaldo got the better of Liverpool defenders of hit a curling shot past Alisson. But it was judged offside and it couldn’t be any worse than that.
Liverpool again boosted the second half and in the 50th minute, Liverpool hit a quick counter. Jordan Henderson spotted Salah on the right and provided a word-class pass to the right. Salah then ran towards the goal and chipped the ball past De Gea and completed his hattrick.
To make matters, even more, worse, Paul Pogba was shown a red card in the 60th minute for fouling Naby Keita. Manchester United failed to show any more fighting spirit as the Old Trafford stadium was filled with boos all day long.
The Liverpool fans mocked the home side by chanting ‘Ole In’. Truly the darkest day in the history of the club and one which will put Solskjaer’s future into serious trouble.
Manager’s words after the match:
Solskjaer said:
“It’s not easy to say something apart from it’s the darkest day I’ve had leading these players and we weren’t good enough, individually and as a team. You can’t give a team like Liverpool those chances, unfortunately, we did. The whole performance wasn’t good enough, that’s for sure. We’ve created openings, they’ve had chances and they’ve been clinical. We didn’t take our chances early on and the third goal is the one that decided the game.”
What’s next:
Manchester United next face Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on the 30th of October in another tough Premier League clash.
