Chronicle Editor
Manchester United outran and outfought Liverpool to seal a 2-1 victory over Liverpool for their first Premier League victory of the season on Monday night.
In fact, the Red Devils ran a whole 19km more than the previous week, where they suffered a shocking 4-0 defeat at Brentford which saw them slip to the foot of the league table.
Erik ten Hag’s side ran a mere 95,6km last week as opposed to 113,8km as the players stepped up to deliver the Dutchman’s intense pressing style of football under the Monday night lights at Old Trafford.
It wasn’t only about the distance United covered, they made a huge total of 155 sprints compared to the 65 that they made against the Bees.
The high-pressing style of play led to plenty more interceptions as they had 12, double Jurgen Klopp’s side total of six during the match.
United were also more clinical, having just 12 shots rather than the 15 they did at the Gtech Community Stadium, but in both matches they had four shots on target and of course found the net twice more.
Those goals came despite a lack of possession with just 29,6 percent against Liverpool while they had 67 percent against Brentford.
The choice of shots was also different as they took eight of those inside the box and just four from outside as they created more dangerous chances.
The match was more about fight than possession, as United had a much higher success rate than Liverpool in duels, as they made 11 more tackles and 34 clearances to the Reds’ mere eight.
Ten Hag’s side even improved on the discipline front with just three bookings and 11 fouls, as opposed to 15 fouls and four bookings the previous week.
United saw Raphael Varane, Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot booked in the victory at Old Trafford.
Whereas last week, they were required to make twice as many tackles as Brentford, 12 to six, and 22 clearances to 13.
They committed 15 fouls and collected four bookings, frustrated challenges later on by Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes adding to Harry Maguire’s first-half foul on Ivan Toney, with the free-kick count ending up 17-7 in Brentford’s favour including offsides. This week, the free-kick count was only 11-7 against the hosts.
United also only mustered two corners last time out and improved that total to six in the win over Liverpool.
United made a total of 273 passes, 57 being long passes, with a passing accuracy of 65,9 percent during the win over title challengers Liverpool.
A key statistic being the passing accuracy in the opponents’ half which was a total of 53,6 percent while they only had a 12,5 percent crossing accuracy in their total of eight crosses.
It’s crazy what difference a week can make and of course a few tweaks with the former Ajax manager making the bold decision to drop captain Harry Maguire and superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo from the starting line-up.
Instead, he opted to recall Raphael Varane in defence and give Marcus Rashford a start down the middle as the striker.
He also dropped England star Luke Shaw for new signing Tyrell Malacia, which also seemed to pay off. — Daily Mail
Online Reporter