English Premier League: Match review – Liverpool draw to Man United

Not the encounter that was projected but in the same breath, highly expected from Jose Mourinho. The clash at Anfield ends for a second season in a row with no goals scored and a point shared, between Liverpool and Man United.

Unimpressed by the Man United team against their oldest rivals during the full 90 minutes. Liverpool their normal but crippled selves without Sadio Mane. Liverpool tried their luck and was once again not clinical in front of goal.

Klopp irritated after the match knowing the Reds put themselves in enough situations, but were unfortunate not to convert their chances. Also, the German never satisfied by the lack of football displayed in a fixture that saw end-to-end action before Jose took over.

A picture that displays the bedtime affair:

What stood out during the 90 minutes?

A major talking point has to be Lukaku’s miss after showing superb form in front of goal. He once again comes short at Anfield and struggles against one of the top-six sides. Although stating how relaxed he was over his poor form against the top teams.

Mignolet pulled off an easy save to keep the game scoreless. Both Matip and Lovren were great together while they kept thee in form Belgian to one shot on target. Liverpool’s young right back, Gomez was award the Man of the Match award. He was outstanding against Anthony and marshalled him out of the game.

Over at the other end of United, the defence was setup not to fail. They were thankful to their keeper, who was another hero on the day. He denied Joel Matip with a magnificent side foot save in the 34^th minute of the game.

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Match stats:

Salah was wasteful for another game running, but was Klopp’s best front man during the time he was on the pitch. Coutinho was found running deeper in the middle of the park to help get the ball up front. He became better as the game wore on.

Missing in the match was their main midfielder, Matic. Liverpool abolished Man United’s midfield and owned the game. This makes it hard to understand why the Anfield side never collected all three points before the final whistle.

He was too, substituted before the final whistle of the match. Emre Can’s poor form continued, even though the player was on a massive high after his first international goal.

He missed a sitter in front of goal during the 56^th minute of the game. This led the way for a second half of more of the same boring defensive play by the Manchester side.

The Top Flight main match points:

• Man of the match – Joe Gomez
• Better keeper – David De Gea (Both clean sheets but the busier out the two)
• Best defence – Liverpool purely based on previous results and totally nullifying the United frontline.
• Best forward – Mohamed Salah was the most entertaining to watch but was way off target.

In conclusion:

All in all, the match was far from what was expected. This all unfolded from a side unbeaten in all their fixtures, verses a side unbeaten at home.

Well done to the Reds for not showing any vulnerability in their leaky defence. This was a great game to come back and keep an unfamiliar clean sheet.

For Jose and his Man United team, it was a poor display after showing Liverpool too much respect. Boasting 21 goals in seven matches before the kick off, they had every right to go for all three points.