Shaqiri sends Anfield into raptures as United labour
There was nothing lucky about this win for Liverpool. Jose Mourinho had made his pre-match jibe but Jurgen Klopp had the perfect riposte, with Liverpool returning to the top of the Premier League through two second-half goals from Anfield’s new super-sub, Xherdan Shaqiri.
After 17 games, it means Liverpool are 19 points ahead of sixthplaced United who, surely, have little hope now of even finishing in the top four. It is that much of an embarrassing shambles for them.
Mourinho later marvelled at Liverpool’s “200 miles per hour” approach and also made some usual barbed comments, suggesting that United had not recruited as smartly as their opponents and, well, what can he do after inheriting a bunch of injury-prone crocks? But this really does not wash. His team, meanwhile, were rinsed. “They are a better team than us,” Mourinho concluded. He is not wrong.
If Liverpool were 200 miles per hour, then all Mourinho appeared to want to do was slow it down. Instead, United stalled.
Outrun, outplayed, outfought, out-thought. United brought on Marouane Fellaini – whose most noticeable contribution was to shoot so waywardly he took out a steward on the other side of the pitch – instead of Paul Pogba, who stayed on the substitutes’ bench, while Liverpool turned to Shaqiri.
Both of his goals were deflected, but there was nothing fortunate about the result – after Mourinho had bizarrely claimed Liverpool were the “lucky ones” with some of their late recent wins. But Liverpool make their own luck because they try to win; they keep going. United simply try to hang on and that is just not good enough. So, they deservedly slipped to a fifth league defeat of the season. It is desperate, there is no other word for it, and it is surely only a matter of time now before Mourinho goes. It is heading one way for him, while Liverpool are going in a completely different direction.
The contrast is stark, indisputable and emphatic. United craved a performance even more than a result and got neither and, as every club who have ever employed Mourinho will testify, once the results go, there is not a lot left.
He can have no complaint as he admitted his team could not match the intensity of their opponents. This is Manchester United and here is their manager talking about struggling to cope. The self-flagellation from their supporters began long before the final whistle and long afterwards, as United were pulled apart by the pundits just as they were by Liverpool out on the pitch.
Klopp hailed the first half-hour as just about the best he has achieved at Liverpool and that was probably right. What is so delightful for him is that he can change his midfield, bringing in Naby Keita and Fabinho, and rest others – such as captain Jordan Henderson – after the Champions League efforts of midweek in defeating Napoli. And it appears seamless.
Fabinho was simply outstanding. This was easily the Brazilian’s best game since joining Liverpool last summer, while Virgil van Dijk utterly dominated Romelu Lukaku and Nathaniel Clyne came in after his long injury absence to perform with assurance at right-back.
Liverpool played at a different pace, a different intensity, a different level to United. They recorded 36 shots – the most, according to Opta, that United have ever faced in a Premier League game – and nine of those came in a devastating 20-minute opening blitz.
It was certainly no surprise when they scored. As fine a finish as it was from Sadio Mane, as deft a chip as it was from Fabinho to find him, it also owed much to some appalling defending. No United player was close to Fabinho as he collected possession from Roberto Firmino, with Ashley Young then failing to track Mane’s run as the forward chested the ball down to volley between David De Gea’s legs.
United were desperate, were in disarray, but drew level. It was a move which was instigated and ended by Jesse Lingard but owed its execution to a dreadful mistake by Alisson Becker, the hero just a few days ago for his vital injurytime save against Napoli.
Lingard exchanged passes with Ander Herrera and pushed the ball wide to Lukaku, whose low cross appeared routine, only for Alisson to spill it, with his knee knocking the ball out of his hands. Lingard, having continued his run, slid in and steered the ball into the net. Could United take advantage? Liverpool were thrown and Mourinho, having lost Chris Smalling to an injury in the warm-up, abandoned his system at half-time, with Fellaini replacing Diogo Dalot as he reverted to a back four.
It made no difference. It became even more a contest of attack against defence, with United defending ever deeper in their own penalty area. They threw their bodies on the line and – here is the crucial point – when you are reduced to such desperate measures, so close to your own goal, there is always the danger of a deflection.
Liverpool profited from two, but both goals came from almost intolerable pressure, with the first offering a positive for Alisson as he started the move by playing the ball, Georginio Wijnaldum eventually switching play.
Suddenly, Mane had worked his way to the byline with De Gea kicking out his low cross only for it to run to Shaqiri, whose first-time shot deflected up off Young, rebounding off the crossbar and over the line.
United were also on the back foot for Shaqiri’s second strike as he ran forward and played the ball in to Firmino, who attempted a square pass to Mohamed Salah.
Instead, it ran back to Shaqiri, whose powerful side-foot shot from the area’s edge ricocheted off Eric Bailly and beyond De Gea.
It meant that United have conceded 29 goals from 17 league games – one more than they did in their entire campaign last season. Liverpool, brushing aside the loss of Joe Gomez, Trent Alexanderarnold, James Milner and Joel Matip, have conceded just seven.
Two deflections and for all of Mourinho’s deflection tactics – and his highly optimistic claim that United will still finish top four – the result was a fair reflection of the gulf between these two teams. There was never any chance of United getting back into this, while Liverpool remain undefeated and are way off in the distance.