Klopp’s side lacked true conviction over season

IN the third minute of what transpired to be a thoroughly deserved Liverpool victory, Roberto Firmino was played through the inside right channel but for some reason did not shoot.

At the same stage of the second half, Liverpool attacked again — this time with speed and hunger — and Firmino did score, following up a rebound from a fierce Trent Alexander-Arnold shot.

In those two moments we saw the bad and the good of Liverpool’s strange season.

Too often over the last eight months there has been not enough energy and conviction, not enough of what Jurgen Klopp’s team have been traditionally good at. There has been too much of what happened in the third minute and not enough of what happened in the 47th.

It is because of this, as much as anything, that the defending champions find themselves scrambling for a top-four finish with three games of their disappointing season still to go.

Some of the things that have underpinned Liverpool’s problems over this campaign have been easy to pinpoint and label. Injuries, for one.

But others have been harder to understand, and one of them has been a collective lack off purpose that has at times seemed to curse this team.

Here at Old Trafford, 11 days later thann planned, Liverpool played rather well after a poor start. They showed desire, courage and a little belief. Put simply, there were signs of life, signs of the things that Liverpool are supposed to be good at. At times, they were just too slick and too clever for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United team.

Occasionally, Liverpool were helped by the home side. Goalkeeper Dean Henderson is being given a long audition as he attempts to prove himself a better bet than David de Gea. So far he is not convincing anyone.

Elsewhere United gave the ball away too much. Liverpool’s crucial third goal came as a result of United coughing the ball up twice in their own half. The fourth one, right at the death, also had red fingerprints all over it.

But this is what tends to happen against teams when they play against a Liverpool team playing as it can. Such is the ferocity of Liverpool’s modern style, they simply pressure opponents in to doing things that players at this level theoretically should not do.

There have been many low points in this Liverpool season. It is astonishing to think that they were top of the league at Christmas. So much has gone wrong since then.

Shocking home defeats to clubs like Burnley, Brighton and Fulham will take a while to forget. But it was a reverse to Chelsea in early March that remains in the mind, simply because that was a night when an opponent — a serious rival — simply beat Liverpool at their own game.

Thomas Tuchel’s players ran further and harder, harried more eagerly, and were more ruthless. It as though they had simply forgotten what it was they once had.

You cannot buy energy, of course. Your players have to work for it. All ofo Klopp’s best teams have had it in buckets and it is something this team must rediscover ahead of next season. It will be a challenge, but there were signs here that amnesia has not totally overwhelmed this group of players. After a poor start — the United opening goal was a dismal one to concede — Klopp’s players were largely impressive. Alexander-Arnold put in a decent shift in front of the England manager Gareth Southgate, while central defender Nat Phillips put the horrors of his role in United’s first goal behind him to play very well.

Phillips cannot expect to play much once Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez return next season. He looks marginally below the level required. But his contribution to this comeback win — in both penalty areas — pointed to impressive depths of self-will.

Liverpool’s celebrations at the end were prolonged. They knew the importance of this. For all that has passed already this season, they do have an opportunity to save face and that, in part, is the frustrating thing.

Liverpool, despite the drama of the 2020-21 season, still have an opportunity to end it on their terms.

United will finish ahead of their great rivals this time round but they will know what happened here. This was a little of the real Liverpool, albeit overdue.