Photo credit: Courtesy of Sports Vision
Both of these teams started the season without a win in the first two rounds.
Manchester United Football Club
The more serious ones are the two defeats.
Liverpool (England)
On the other hand, two draws, the same two teams facing close to the worst opening season in history in the first three rounds, just the third round of the double red, you have to beat the other side, or else they will have to break the multi-year historical record of the opening of the season of three consecutive winless.
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Manchester United Football Club
This game was played very conservatively, with backs Varane, L. Martinez, Dalot, Malacia, backs McTominay, Eriksen, attacking midfielder B Faye, both sides Sancho, Elanga, forwards Rashford, the
Liverpool (England)
Due to a large number of injuries and suspensions, only a stumped lineup could be named, with defenders Van Dijk, Gomez, Arnold, and Robertson, midfielders Henderson, Milner, and Elliott, and strikers Salah, Firmino, and LuisDiaz.
After the opening.
Manchester United Football Club
They are very careful, basically there are seven people in the backfield in defense, B fee also back deep, the lesson of the first two games is too painful, so that even at home now, Ten Hag can only let all the staff in the backfield stand well to play counterattack.
Liverpool (England)
Darwin was banned for his last red card, Jota, Thiago, Keita, Matip, Konate were all injured (Jones and Chamberlain were also injured), and Fabinho was put on the bench. I don't think it was a rotation, but it could be that he wasn't really feeling well and wasn't on the bench.
Liverpool (England)
The formation that came out was already a stump formation, but even if it was a stump formation I think the
Liverpool (England)
It also has a high chance of winning, but the problem is that
Liverpool (England)
Out of condition yourself.
Manchester United Football Club
It's about playing B fee and Eriksen in the midfield position to receive the ball cleared by the defensive end and then sending a kick directly to the front line to Rashford or Elanga for a simple distribution and then accelerating directly in to
Liverpool (England)
penalty area, and the tactic worked mainly because Van Dijk was in a bad way.
Liverpool (England)
Gomez, who is not a starting center back, really didn't have much to look forward to, and he missed a lot of positions in this game, and didn't keep up with Van Dijk, leaving a lot of space between him and Van Dijk, so whether it was Rashford, Elanga, or even Beefy, who did a good job of inserting himself into the position, Van Dijk had a rare slump in form! It was very serious, he was almost a step slow in most of his handling of the ball on the night, and there was hesitation, which is what made
Manchester United Football Club
The main reason for the victory, they won at the point of Van Dijk.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Sports Vision
The first goal came at the 16-minute mark.
Manchester United Football Club
press up to
Liverpool (England)
Sancho ran to the center of the 12-yard box. The pass was a little backward and Sancho held the ball completely on his back. After half a turn, he saw Milner trying to shovel the ball at him and Sancho flicked the ball away. Sancho took a shot that caused goalkeeper Alisson to fall to the ground, and then Sancho took a shot at the near post, which grazed Van Dijk's side and broke the goal.
After that Milner yelled at Van Dijk and was very upset, he was asking Van Dijk to press up. It's true that Van Dijk was supposed to move forward when Milner failed to shovel, and at the same time block the angle of the shot as well as prevent Sancho from passing the ball, and he was indeed slow in his judgment, however, the ball was supposed to be played with Fabinho in that position, and Milner wasn't right to lose that position completely. It's not right for Milner to lose his position when he fails to take the ball. If Fabinho had been in that position, he would have been the center back's shield, and he wouldn't have let go of the ball so easily, so there's no way Sancho would have been able to get back to the ball and turn it around and shoot from that position.
Liverpool (England)
The problems were not solved because many of them had problems. Van Dijk and Gomez were in bad shape, which directly led to Arnold and Robertson not being able to press on the ball and had to be ready to run back all the time, and Henderson was in a very bad shape too. He was supposed to replace Fabinho in the defense, but he didn't do a good job in the defense, and he couldn't support the front line in the offense. The offense wasn't entirely the responsibility of the Hens, because Elliott was the one who played more up front in the game to make the passes.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Sports Vision
On the offensive side of the ball, Firmino continued his previous slump and was almost completely invisible, while Diaz, on the left, seemed to me to be playing alone all the time, most of the time since last season, especially when he was in a hurry, he would try to get the ball himself and then not pass it, and then just move across the 18-yard line of the penalty box and then shoot, which is his trick, but he has already used it quite a few times, and other people would defend it, and it was obvious to me that Diaz's connection with Robertson was very much worse than Mane's connection with Robertson. It's obvious that Diaz's link up with Robertson is a lot worse than Mane's link up with Robertson, which is probably why Robertson is less likely to press the ball.
The key Salah's right side was defended by Malacia and L.Martinez, and later even added a back three to guard him. Malacia gave a very good defensive performance, but I don't think it can be taken as a proof of his superb defense, because Salah was obviously hesitant to break through, I don't know if it's because he didn't understand the two new opponents, or he was worried that he might be hit by counterattacks or his form was bad. I don't know if it's because he doesn't know these two new opponents, or if he's worried about getting counterattacked if he loses the ball, or if he's not in good shape, but Salah's handling of the ball on goal now is just amazing.
Manchester United Football Club
Already with two or three men linking up to defend him, he didn't want to go through hard to pass, the problem was that Firmino, who should have been cutting to the near post, stayed away and ran to the far post, leaving Salah with no one to pass to.
Liverpool (England)
The right side just stayed paralyzed, even Arnold wasn't quite brave enough to go up and help play the push, just play simple passes.