Liverpool smashed Manchester United. Here's why.
P.S. Seven? That's bigger than hitting a six!
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Erik ten Hag opted to use Wout Weghorst in a #10 role for Manchester United, with Marcus Rashford playing as a striker, with Bruno Fernandes on the left-hand side. This allowed United to attack in transition through the centre of the pitch, with Rashford looking find gaps between the opposition defenders and use his pace behind their high line.
Erik ten Hag prefers to play in transition against the more possession dominant sides. However, Liverpool are also one of the most deadly teams in world football in transition. When Manchester United pressed high up the pitch, due to Allisson’s unbelievable distribution, Liverpool were able to beat the United press and quickly start attacks.
The issue with United’s high press is that Liverpool’s front three was very fluid. Despite playing as anumber nine, Gakpo was dropping in between the lines to pick up the ball in dangerous areas. When the ball gets played into Gakpo, who is unmarked as he’s left his usual position, he’s in acres of space and half of United’s team is taken out of the game.
As previously mentioned, Liverpool could easily beat United’s press, which saw Antony and Fernandes push on to the two Liverpool centre-backs, with Weghorst pressing the defensive midfielder and Rashford pressing the goalkeeper. This situation leaves Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold unmarked, with neither of United’s full-backs engaging in the press.
Due to Alisson’s distribution, he was able to pick out his full-backs on many occasions. This would also start a domino effect, where a central midfielder from United would be forced to push wide, leaving space in the middle for the likes of Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah to drop into.
As previously mentioned, Liverpool are deadly in transition. United committing too many men forward whilst 3-0 down to try and get back into the game led to Liverpool being able to counter-attack in numbers using their pace in the forward line.
Rather than going for damage limitation and trying to prevent Liverpool scoring anymore goals, Erik ten Hag allowed his side to continue pushing.
For me, this is a lack of experience from Ten Hag in these situations, due to him being used to winning so regularly in Holland with Ajax.
