Footballing legend Bastian Schweinsteiger watched his former club Manchester United be absolutely humiliated against Liverpool last night. It was a freakish performance from Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, but Schweinsteiger thinks Fred should have done better for the first Liverpool goal.
Cody Gakpo scored the opener, as he found himself with plenty of space in the box. Fingers have been pointed to the Manchester United defence, but World Cup winner Schweinsteiger looked at this from the point of view of a midfielder.
Schweinsteiger took to Twitter to give Fred some advice which, if he had his head screwed on, he would take. The former German midfielder took it back to his playing days, giving some advice from the World Cup winning team: Never open the centre.
Fred doesn’t need to push too much to Gakpo. He just needs to close inside and let the ball pass wide. World Cup ritual: Never open the centre!
— Bastian Schweinsteiger (@BSchweinsteiger) March 5, 2023
Fred was dragged out of position, which allowed Robertson who was phenomenal last night, to play an easy pass into Gakpo, who did the rest. As a midfielder, particularly in this rigid Ten Hag system, you should stick to your position and not be tempted to track the runs out wide: that’s the job of a full-back.
We all saw how clinical and dominant Liverpool were last night, but at the start of the match, it was two-sided. What’s frustrating for fans is that heads were dropped after this first goal, which came from a Fred mistake. Mistakes happen in football and Fred shouldn’t be blamed for the overall football from Manchester United – heads should never be dropped, particularly when the greatest manager of all time is watching from the stands.
What was your favourite goal from Liverpool’s seven against Manchester United last night?