Rashford double gives Red Devils edge over arch rivals Liverpool
On his first start since December 26, Rashford shines with killer double
IT WAS all about the boy. That’s not to say the supporting roles were not significant, not least Romelu Lukaku who was quite superb, Scott McTominay, who again played beyond his years and Alexis Sanchez, who had his best performance to date for United.
But Marcus Rashford had not started a Premier League game since December 26. If not exactly wasting away, you wondered if he was a case of arrested development. Certainly the stardust which followed him two years ago when he burst into this team and demanded global attention has steadily dispersed.
Not so here. Big players win important games. When Rashford did that at 18, he had the air of an ingenue about him. Here, he was more than that; a man composed on this stage, the clinical match winner.
‘Today was a big game and we trusted him,’ said United manager Jose Mourinho. ‘Maybe a bit unexpected. But he’s improving a lot in training.
‘You don’t see what is going on and how well or bad players are playing, the moods, the feeling. And the feeling with him was that he was improving a lot in the last few weeks.
‘We felt putting Alexis in that position could be a good link with Lukaku and that Emre Can would then have to worry with him. The good thing was the first chance Marcus had he scored, because the last three months that wasn’t happening and he was feeling that a bit in terms of self-confidence.’
Rashford’s first finish was exquisite, the second excellent. The only boos were when Rashford was withdrawn early, Mourinho explaining that his 28th-minute yellow card meant he was too precarious to risk for the final 20 minutes. Mourinho also mentioned that Gary Neville had highlighted on TV the numerous other potential cautions Rashford might have received and was concerned, lest referee Craig Pawson had been tuning into Sky at half-time
What was just as heartening was that, around the Rashford show, a gripping football match was unfolding. It was not quite the title-deciders of old, more like the battle to be best of the rest. Still, given the dearth of quality and excitement in this fixture of late, it was a welcome return to form for this match.
At times, it can seem impossible to disrupt the forward flow of this Liverpool team. But Mourinho had a plan and it did not include any bus parking. It was based on counter-attacks but was this was far from the dirge of Anfield earlier this season.
At times it looked like a throwback to a 1990s United team in shape, almost a 4-4-2. And though possession was conceded, every attack seemed incisive. It perplexed Liverpool. James Milner, Can and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain were outplayed by McTominay and Nemanja Matic in the opening 45 minutes. They were also critically outfought at the back. Paul Pogba? He was injured. And not especially missed
This was also a defining moment for Lukaku, too. In a major fixture, he dominated the centre-halves. When Rashford scored his second, it was noticeable that McTominay raced to embrace Lukaku, who provided the flick and pass to start the move. Dejan Lovren looked battle fatigued by the end. He will take some time to recover.
Both those first-half goals came from David De Gea kicks. Not content with being United’s best player, the goalkeeper is proving their most creative one as well.
In the 14th minute it was Lukaku’s flick on from De Gea’s punt which released Rashford. He nodded the ball down and, from thereon in, he was simply magnificent. There was the pace to befuddle Trent Alexander-Arnold, a neat check and turn, then an exquisite finish to the far post.
Twenty-four minutes in, Lukaku not only won the header but pounced on the ball and drove on to release Juan Mata. His strike rebounded off Virgil van Dijk, fell for Rashford and, just inside the box, full of confidence, he applied another excellent finish.
It should really have been 3-0 by half-time, Sanchez crossing for Mata who, with time and space, attempted a spectacular scissors kick and shot wide. On the bench Mourinho held his head in his hands. It was a moment in which a simple control and strike would have ended the contest.
Klopp’s frustrations were principally with the referee and his defenders. ‘The problem is not that we didn’t create enough. It’s that you are not allowed to concede these type of goals,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t their style won or our style lost. It was two situations with nothing to do with style. Second balls; you have to do what you have to do. If you go for it, you have to protect the situation. We didn’t do that. Our mistake.’
Liverpool were much better in the second half but still largely contained until Sadio Mane sent in a cross and Eric Bailly got himself in an unnecessary and terrible tangle.
Attempting to clear in an ungainly fashion and hopelessly off balance, he hung out a leg allowing the ball to strike his heel and catch De Gea off guard to put into his own net. But it was potential penalties which really irked Klopp.
The first such shout was when Andrew Roberston’s cross struck Antonio Valencia’s hand inside the box in the 50th minute. But the one which infuriated Klopp was in the 82nd minute, when Marouane Fellaini crashed into Mane. ‘You need that,’ said the Liverpool manager. ‘You need some luck with right decisions, not wrong decision.’
But ultimately United had enough to repel their rivals. Maybe that does not mean quite so much as it once did. But second best, which it may well have secured, is a significant upgrade on recent years.