Erik ten Hag wanted to give the change after the correction. “It’s unacceptable, but it’s also just one game and we’re going to bounce back,” said the Manchester United coach on Sunday, in the wake of the sinking in Liverpool (7-0), during the 26th day of the Premier League. The Red Devils conceded their biggest defeat against their historic rival, beating the performance of 1925 (5-0). The Mancunians had not suffered such humiliation since Boxing Day 1931 and the 7-0 against Wolverhampton.
With this triumph, Liverpool take 5th place in Newcastle with 42 points against 41, even if the Magpies have one game less. They also come back three lengths from Tottenham, 4th and last virtual qualifier for the C1, but who played one more match. With 49 points and the same number of games as Liverpool, United remains firmly in 3rd place, but he sees the leading tandem, made up of Arsenal (63 pts) and Manchester City (58) moving away.
United went 11 games unbeaten
We will now have to see how the teammates of Raphaël Varane, who remained on 11 games without defeat, will react. They completely collapsed in the second half after having done better than equal play for 40 minutes. Then Cody Gakpo started the Liverpool festival (43rd) before doing it again after the break. Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nuñez also scored twice, before Roberto Firmino finished the job in the 88th minute, nine minutes after coming on.
With 129 league goals, Salah has become Liverpool’s top scorer in the Premier League ahead of Robbie Fowler.
This seventh game in a row without losing against Manchester United at Anfield – the longest run since the 1970s – could sign the Reds’ real return to the fore after months of trial and error. Jürgen Klopp also becomes the Liverpool coach to have most often beaten the Red Devils in the league with this 6th success in 16 confrontations, ahead of Gérard Houllier (5).