English Premier League: Amidst all the chaos regarding the club's ownership and dissatisfaction amongst the fans, one of the biggest sporting clubs in the world, Manchester United has delivered a performance that is worthy of praise. The club had a pretty dismal run earlier this year and things did not go down well with the fans who also speculated that Cristiano Ronaldo might leave the club. When the club's future is in turmoil, the red devils had the calm and the composure to put all of this behind them and put up a dominant show against arch-rivals Liverpool.
Dominant finishes in the 16th minute by Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford in the 53rd earned a victory at Old Trafford and brought respite for under-pressure manager Erik ten Hag, who made a statement with his team selection as he dropped star striker Cristiano Ronaldo and club captain Harry Maguire. These decisions were treated very harshly by the fans, but in the end, they reaped sweet results for the club. "I wanted a different attitude and that is what I saw them bring on the pitch. But it's only the start", said manager Ten Hag, who has started his stint at Manchester United with things going haywire.
Liverpool finds themselves in a strange situation now as this defeat comes out of unexpected situations. Liverpool is being touted as one of the title contenders with Jürgen Klopp's team still waiting for a win after three games and now languishing behind United in the standings on just two points. "The start of the game was exactly what everyone expected, what United fans expected.
They were after us, They started slightly more aggressive than us" said Klopp.
Mohammad Salah Mohamed Salah ended up scoring in the 81st-minute consolation but that doesn't change the fact it was yet another below-par display from Liverpool after draws with Fulham and Crystal Palace, even if this was their first league loss in 2022. "In the warm-up, it was the quietest I have heard this stadium and they wanted something to lift them and we gave it to them", said Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson after the match.
(Inputs from PTI)
