By: Leo Hewitt-Provost
6 games against Liverpool, 1 win, 2 draws, and 2 defeats in the Premier League, 1 win in the FA Cup, and a cumulative score of 16 goals for Liverpool and 7 for Manchester United; this is Erik Ten Hag’s record against Liverpool Football Club.
Those stats might look like an average record on paper, yet it feels like Liverpool has been Manchester United’s worst nightmare in recent times. The previous Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp had an incredible record against Manchester United and although he’s no longer at the club, his soul remains in the heart of Liverpool Football Club, who have now found a brilliant tactician in the name of Arne Slot, whose football philosophy is to push Liverpool to the top, and this will surely please Liverpool fans after three convincing wins against Ipswich Town, Brenford and Manchester United.
Arne Slot, the Dutch manager, which Erik Ten Hag knows very well, completely outclassed Manchester United on their home soil today, thanks to the forward trio of Luiz Diaz, Diogo Jota and the maestro Mohamed Salah, who provided the Colombian Diaz with two assists, before slotting the ball nicely in the back of the net to make it 3-0.
The forward trio looked as good as they have ever been when they were playing under their previous German manager Jurgen Klopp, and this is all credit to Arne Slot, whose football philosophy is to play from the back and pressing quite high, and in transitions, the front three are proving to be lethal, players like Trent Alexander Arnold move the ball really well, and the three midfielders Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szoboszlai controlled the tempo today as if they were playing at Anfield, calm and collected.
As for Manchester United, another fixture at the Theatre of Dreams between the two giants of English football, and another appalling performance from the home side, who are now only 1 win in 3 matches. When Manchester United needed a leader today, the team was overrun in midfield, the Brazilian veteran and multiple champions league winner Casemiro was well below par, whilst the Portuguese captain Bruno Fernandes wasn’t pushing his teammates forward the way he is supposed to, and Erik Ten Hag, the Dutch boss, now in his third season at the club, looks overwhelmed with the idea of managing Manchester United. Last season, Manchester United were forced to deal with constant injuries, and Ten Hag picked the players at his disposal, without having much of a say in the matter, but things aren’t quite the same this time around, INEOS have signed 5 players in Leny Yoro,
Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs De Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Manuel Ugarte, and still the manager is having a hard time finding the answers against Liverpool.
Erik Ten Hag’s loss against Brighton last week may have been on him but this defeat feels a lot rougher for United fans in the sense that it’s hard to blame someone for it, even if people will try to blame Ten Hag for this loss, players like Casemiro seem to have lost his ways, and looks like a shadow of himself. Manchester United still look like they haven’t found an identity, as opposed to Liverpool, who have clear patterns of play. A third season for Erik Ten Hag now, and still the feeling amongst everyone is that there is no path forward for the Manchester United manager, who was left off the hook last May after defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, he who was set to lose his job after a poor 2023/2024 season.
It was too easy for Liverpool today, to the point where even Manchester United fans were booing their own players, Alejandro Garnacho was taken off in place of Amad Diallo, and the Manchester United fans booed Ten Hag’s decision to keep Marcus Rashford on. Liverpool are now 3 for 3 in the league this season, and are yet to have conceded a goal. Today, it is clear that Manchester United are not improving, instead moving backwards.
It’s difficult to draw any positives from this Manchester United side this afternoon, who have only had 3 shots on goal today, Joshua Zirkzee seemed isolated at times, and Marcus Rashford looked uninterested, whilst academy graduate Kobbie Mainoo was having to work for two, as Casemiro evidently looked out of place today. Will new Uruguayan signing Manuel Ugarte make a difference at the Theatre of Dreams? It sure seems like things cannot get any worse, but one thing is guaranteed, the international break coming up will be a good boost for Manchester United, who can regroup after a tough loss against Liverpool today, still never easy to digest.