TITLE TOWN!
City and United slug it out at top
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer says it is a ‘good feeling’ United are disappointed not to have beaten Liverpool and lamented their failure to ‘pounce’ on the champions’ injury issues.
Jurgen Klopp started with auxiliary centre-backs Jordan Henderson and Fabinho as Joel Matip was not deemed fit enough to participate, yet United failed to score at Anfield for the fifth time in their last six visits.
Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba squandered excellent chances in the second half but Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were blunt, and Fernandes was substituted late on after what was arguably his poorest performance since joining United.
The Reds had more attempts on target than Liverpool and extended their unbeaten domestic away run to 23 games as the halfway stage of the Premier League season looms, having left Anfield 30 points behind their rivals in January of last year.
“It takes good players, that’s the first thing,” Solskjaer said of United’s unbeaten away run.
“The players have deserved the results, the mood is getting better, the belief is there, coming away from one point and the players disappointed.
“It just shows at least we’ve come on quite a bit from when we were here last time.
“We’re a bit disappointed with the performance as well, not just the result, because you have to really turn up. “They’re a very good side, today they had some injury problems and we didn’t pounce on that opportunity that their injuries gave us.
“But we felt we grew into the game and we got stronger and stronger and were closest to winning it towards the end.
“We know you’ve got players who can win you the game in the blink of a second and Bruno and Paul
Today they had some injury problems and we didn’t pounce on that opportunity those injuries gave us
almost did so. I think everyone was a bit disappointed in the way we started the game so that’s a good feeling to have that we’re disappointed with the performance.”
Harry Maguire, meanwhile, disagreed with the notion that Liverpool’s centre-backs were their weakness.
The United captain lauded Fabinho and Jordan Henderson who, along with goalkeeper Alisson, kept a clean sheet.
He said: “There’s a lot of talk about the first choice centre-halves but they’ve had a great defensive record ever since they’ve had all these injuries.
“So it just shows they’ve got lots of options there.
“Jordan [Henderson] has gone in there. I’ve played with him numerous times and he can play in there.”
Maguire assessed a largely positive United display at Anfield, one which was far improved from their 2-0 defeat at Liverpool a year ago — which remains the last time Solskjaer’s men were defeated in an away league game.
“I think you can see from our performance here, compared to how it was last year — when it was a tight, edgy game but we weren’t brave at all, we were timid and didn’t play on the front foot,” said the Reds captain. “But in the second half today we had the intensity to go and win the game, which shows how far we’ve come.
“We’re not getting carried away. There’s a lot of improvement we’ve got to do as well, so we’ll work hard.”