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Manchester United took on Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, hoping to recover from a last-gasp loss to Brighton and Hove Albion last weekend.
Andre Onana kept his place in goal while Matthijs de Ligt was the big change in the back four replacing Harry Maguire.
Diogo Dalot, Lisandro Martinez and Noussair Mazraoui made up the rest of the back four.
As newest signing Manuel Ugarte was not registered in time, the midfield trio of Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes remained in tact.
There were two changes up front as Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee made their first starts of the season while Marcus Rashford started on the left wing. Amad Diallo will have considered himself unlucky to find himself on the bench after a goal in the previous game and winning the club’s player of the month award for August.
Here are three things we learned from the biggest game in English football.
Casemiro cannot compete at this level
The Brazilian suffered a season from hell last year but after a positive pre-season and decent start to the campaign at home to Fulham, there was some hope he had turned it around.
With the signing of Manuel Ugarte, it is clear the club are looking beyond the midfielder for the future but having been unable to sell him in the summer, United will have been hoping he could contribute as a squad player.
Two catastrophic errors in the first 45 minutes puts even this vision in doubt.
For the opening goal, under no pressure whatsoever, Casemiro played a lazy ball forward that was easily cut out by Liverpool and taking advantage of United’s lack of shape at the back, Luis Diaz unforgivingly nodded in at the back post.
The Brazilian lost the ball a massive 13 times during the first half of action and was at it again after 42 minutes when he was easily pushed off the ball in the middle of the park and Mo Salah expertly picked out Diaz to score his second.
His half was characterised by a long ball to nobody one minute before the break and there were audible groans from the crowd, knowing they are witnessing the end of what was a legendary midfielder.
Such was Ten Hag’s rage that 20 year Toby Collyer was brought on at half-time to help limit the damage.
United’s poor mentality on show again
Despite conceding a goal within the first six minutes that was rightly chalked off, the Red Devils started the proceedings quite brightly, dominating the ball and getting into some quite dangerous positions.
Sloppy passing and poor first touches meant that United could not get themselves in front but Erik ten Hag’s side reaction to going one down was a familiarly depressing one for United fans.
The lapse last week to concede a late strike at the Amex stadium was a reminder of last season’s ghosts coming back to haunt them and the first half at Old Trafford only confirmed they are still very much there to overcome.
After Diaz scored after 35 minutes, it was vitally important not to concede a second and go into the halftime break only the one goal down.
The United defence could only withstand another seven minutes before losing another goal and their reaction will immensely worry fans of the club expecting much better than last season.
A third goal just 11 minutes after the break was once again proof that this team have much to do to become a genuine top side.
Erik ten Hag hasn’t learned from last season’s problems
In April it seemed clear as day that Ten Hag would be sacked for his side’s insipid league performances but a glorious FA Cup final seemingly saved him and Ineos confirmed it with an infamous meeting in Ibiza.
The new owners backed him heavily with five big signings and there was much talk of a change of ways.
There were hints all was not well in the opening two games of the season but their old rivals Liverpool brutally exposed United’s problems as they have frequently done over the last half a decade.
Ten Hag’s United were ripped apart with little focus or control on show. Open in the midfield area, non-existent marking and no clear plan in possession were all hallmarks of this performance.
These were all issues that United fans have become all too familiar with but after three transfer windows and 118 games in charge for Ten Hag, little seems to be improving.
Sadly even if United do have better results, it is hard to imagine them ever really reaching the levels of winning the league or Champions League with Ten Hag in charge.
Now Ineos seem like they will have another massive decision to make in the not so distant future as fewer and fewer fans seem to be on board with what the former Ajax manager is trying to sell.
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2024-09-01 16:57:52
