Rhys Williams had a difficult game against Manchester United but the fact he played at all implies a flaw in the Anfield systemThree minutes into the second half at Old Trafford something happened that was simultaneously startling, avoidable, unfortunate, and also crushingly inevitable. Manchester United’s second goal in this fun, highly watchable 3-2 FA Cup fourth-round win will be cast as a the fruit of a Rhys Williams mistake.Correctly so: it was a horrible mistake. Rumbling back to cut out a diagonal pass from Mason Greenwood, Liverpool’s centre‑back scuffed a miskicked clearance that ran straight into Marcus Rashford’s path, leaving him a clear run on goal. Related: Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes sinks Liverpool in FA Cup thriller Related: What does...
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side are better able to adapt to the bizarre circumstances of this season while Liverpool, a team with a defined way of playing, are strugglingDid Alex Ferguson have a “philosophy”? Perhaps, over the 39 years between him taking his first job at East Stirlingshire and him retiring in 2013, it is possible to pick out some essential principles, but fundamentally he changed according to circumstance. He did not formulate and then enact some grand theory of how football should be played; his greatest assets were his capacity to organise, to motivate and to evolve.Yet recently, the assumption has been that managers must be philosophers: Pep Guardiola with his juego de posición, Jürgen Klopp and the German school...
Last year’s free-scoring champions were blunted by Manchester United but all blame does not lie with Mohamed Salah and coOf course it was nil-nil. Liverpool came to Anfield for the most spiteful, razor-edged derby in elite-level English football having scored in their last 42 Premier League home games. They took to the field without a single specialist central defender against a free-scoring Manchester United. The week had been shot through with hopeful talk of title charges, Judgment Days and the usual final countdown waffle.At which point, welcome to the more mannered world of Covid-era football, a stage show that is required to generate its own pulse and where players are asked to alchemise from the empty air the kind of...
When the two biggest clubs in the land meet on Sunday, the Liverpool manager must get his front three firing to reignite the champions’ title defence A fair amount has altered since Mohamed Salah steamed through on David de Gea’s goal to seal Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Manchester United almost exactly one year ago. There were 52,916 supporters allowed inside Anfield on that different planet, Alisson could sprint the length of the pitch to embrace the goalscorer without fear of government censure and Liverpool fans finally acknowledged in public that the Premier League title was theirs after a 30-year wait. Of the many changes in Jürgen Klopp’s world since last receiving Ole Gunnar Solskjær at Anfield, it is the dilution...
Sam Allardyce takes aim at Arsenal, Danny Ings could return to haunt Liverpool and José Mourinho must change tackOle Gunnar Solskjær has taken significant stick from laymen convinced their footballing expertise trumps his, but even they must concede that Manchester United are better now than at any stage in the Post-Fergie Wilderness YearsTM. Though it’s hard to envisage United winning the title, they must attack games as if they intend to, and should they fail, it will not be because they were too cautious. Solskjær’s side are too ruthful in attack and defence, but can offset these weaknesses by dominating opponents in midfield. Before their midweek win with Wolves, the Norwegian said “we need to go after them and get...