Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United analysis: Jurgen Klopp and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have plenty to work on
The Premier League hype machine went to work before Sunday’s clash between Liverpool and Manchester United. While the rivalry between the two North-West clubs is one of the most historic around, these two teams have very rarely gone head-to-head for honours over the years. Indeed, Liverpool and United’s eras of dominance have passed each other with very little overlap.
This season, though, they are leading the way in the Premier League, divided by just three points, and so kick off at Anfield was preceded by dramatic montages and melodramatic discussions of destiny and fate. Ultimately, what was witnessed before kick off was more entertaining that anything that happened after it.
And yet this result could result in an even greater duel between these two rivals further down the line. The season is young, with both Liverpool and Manchester United still not at the halfway point of their respective Premier League campaigns. This match might not have delivered the memorable moment so many craved, but a slow boil could result in a bigger eruption.
In many ways, United played the perfect game. It didn’t look that way in the opening 30 minutes when Liverpool took a firm grip of the contest through Thiago Alcantara in the centre of the pitch. Had the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich midfielder not been so rusty in some of his final passes and decision-making, he surely would have created an opener.
Bruno Fernandes struggled to get himself involved as United as a whole toiled to construct attacking moves that didn’t involve a long pass into the channels. Their front four was cut off from the rest of the team for the majority of the first half, best illustrated by the fact they had just one touch of the ball in the opposition box in the opening 30 minutes. United also failed to register a single shot on goal in the first half.
The second half, however, saw the visitors show more ambition. The introduction of Edinson Cavani gave United more purpose in attack even if the Uruguayan never really got on the end of a goalscoring opportunity. Fernandes and Paul Pogba did, though, and should have found the back of the net. Only through the heroics of Alisson Becker did Liverpool keep a clean sheet.
Solskjaer will surely see this performance and result as progress. United left Anfield, a ground they haven’t won at in the league since January 2016, with a point to keep them top of the Premier League having created the best two opportunities. What’s more, there was no highlight reel of David de Gea saves.
Liverpool will also see the positives in how they kept, for the most part, one of the league’s most potent attacks at arm’s length. For all the talk of defensive injuries and troubles, highlighted by the sight of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson as the centre back pairing against United, it’s the players further forward that are currently letting down the defending champions.
This result means Liverpool have failed to score in three straight Premier League matches for the first time since May 2005. Since scoring seven against Crystal Palace before Christmas, Klopp’s side have scored just once from 62 shots. Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw did a good job of keeping Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah quiet, but the truth is they didn’t have to face much.
Both Klopp and Solskjaer have plenty to work on going forward. The former must find a way to get his frontline firing again while the latter needs to find a system that permits his players to impose themselves more on the biggest games, like this one. There was no early resolution to this developing title race between Liverpool and United at Anfield on Sunday. That could come later. On the day, there were no winners, but Manchester United could be the happier of the two.
Match report and highlights: Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United
The top-of-the-table clash between England’s two most decorated clubs never got close to fulfilling its billing, with the best quality on show being that from the Liverpool keeper, who twice denied Bruno Fernandes in the second half.
Manager Jurgen Klopp’s 200th Premier League match in charge – and his 100th at Anfield – will not live long in the memory, with a predictable seventh draw in the last 10 meetings between these sides.
The draw maintained United’s place at the top of the Premier League table, although their three-point advantage was cut to two after Leicester’s win on Saturday, which also meant Liverpool are down to third.
Klopp’s team have now not won in four league matches as despite producing 18 shots, they managed just three on target. United had four from eight attempts.
The hope for the hosts was that Thiago Alcantara, making his first Anfield appearance for the club since arriving from Bayern Munich in September, would provide the creative spark.
He did dictate play in midfield but even his exquisite use of the ball could not unlock a well-drilled United formation.
But he was not helped by some distinctly poor and wayward finishing from the likes of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Xherdan Shaqiri – on his first league start for 13 months – and Andy Robertson.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was first to make his move, sending on Edinson Cavani for Anthony Martial on the hour, just before Salah had another shot deflected wide after seeming to delay a fraction too long.
Fernandes seemed to be the only United player testing Alisson, with the Brazil international saving twice in the second half, the second a good block from close range.
Thiago forced the under-employed David De Gea to palm away his strike from distance before Alisson produced the stop of the evening to turn Paul Pogba’s drive for a corner.
There were moments in the final 15 minutes when it looked like Liverpool’s long unbeaten home record, stretching back to April 2017, would fall as United looked likeliest to score, but a 68th game was eventually successfully negotiated.
United left the pitch slightly happier with their day’s work but the occasion itself was significantly less satisfying.