THE OMENS were not good.
Going into Sunday’s game, Manchester United had scored just once in their last seven visits to Anfield.
January 2016 was the last time they had picked up three points at the ground when Wayne Rooney scored the game’s only goal.
Moreover, Erik ten Hag’s side’s form this season had been so unconvincing that some people were predicting a mauling.
Certain commentators speculated there might even be a repeat of last season’s 7-0 thrashing by the Reds — United ironically went into that game in much better form compared to now, having just triumphed in the League Cup final against Newcastle.
So within that context and perhaps buoyed by the diminished expectations, Ten Hag’s men must be happy with the outcome of Sunday’s game, a scrappy, lacklustre, low-quality 0-0 draw.
And in isolation, you could argue United did well under the circumstances.
They had several players unavailable including their suspended captain Bruno Fernandes and the injured Harry Maguire, who has looked rejuvenated this season after winning his place back in the team.
It was largely a diligent defensive display from United that earned them a point, though it could have been better if they had been more clinical on the rare occasions they found themselves in the Liverpool penalty area.
Rasmus Højlund — Manchester United’s €84 million summer signing — in particular should have done better when slipped through on goal by skipper for the day, Scott McTominay.
However, the Danish striker, who is still waiting for his first Premier League goal, shot too close to the goalkeeper when one-on-one with Alisson and let the hosts off the hook.
Yet that’s not to say Liverpool won’t feel hard done by as well.
One Opta stat sums up their overall dominance on the day: “Liverpool had 34 shots against Man Utd, their most on record (from 2003-04) in a Premier League game without scoring, and the most by any side without a goal in the competition since Man Utd’s 38 v Burnley in October 2016.”
34 - Liverpool had 34 shots against Man Utd, their most on record (from 2003-04) in a Premier League game without scoring, and the most by any side without a goal in the competition since Man Utd's 38 v Burnley in October 2016. Wasteful. pic.twitter.com/v5wHYKfK03
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 17, 2023
Yet as Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher suggested afterwards, the game was not as dramatically one-sided as the stats suggested.
Although Liverpool dominated possession and territory while registering plenty of efforts on goal, few if any of their opportunities were gilt-edged chances.
For the most part, Man United were impressively diligent off the ball — a characteristic you would not always associate with the Red Devils in recent times — and invariably looked compact at the back.
Liverpool, perhaps guilty of believing the pre-match hype, were below their best and uncharacteristically inept in the final third.
But while the result will boost the struggling Old Trafford outfit’s morale, it was also easy to see why they currently trail Jurgen Klopp’s men by 10 points just shy of the season’s midway stage.
The frustration of watching Sunday afternoon’s encounter for United fans will be that it provided a stark reminder of how little they have evolved in recent years.
The way United set up, it might as well have been Jose Mourinho or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer managing them.
Indeed of their last eight visits to Anfield, four have now ended in 0-0 draws — twice under Mourinho and once with Ralf Rangnick in charge, while they also were involved in a stalemate at Old Trafford during the Solskjaer era.
As welcome as these face-saving performances may be for United in the short term, they fail to hide the deeper malaise at the club.
The Red Devils played small-team football at Anfield today, just as they have regularly in recent years, and the beleaguered club arguably have no choice given the state of the team.
When they ostensibly try to be more adventurous, the consequences can be disastrous, such as the 7-0 humbling last season.
Yet the fact that they are now regularly reduced to playing in this ultra-pragmatic way with little simultaneous success constitutes a failure of sorts.
In their seven Premier League games this season against top-10 opposition, United have come away with a total of four points.
It is now a year and a half into the Ten Hag era, Ange Postecoglou took barely a match and a half to radically alter the way Spurs — another once-dour-to-watch, ex-Mourinho team — played football.
There are few signs of meaningful change or evidence that the club are capable of genuinely competing with the top sides. Instead, United are a team in stasis, weighed down by a series of transfer mishaps and a continuing behind-the-scenes saga involving doubts over ownership and a lack of leadership at the club. Therefore, with the players at their disposal, the least bad option for Ten Hag is continuing the dull, uninspired, means-to-an-end policies of his predecessors.
This afternoon’s performance — high on commitment but low on skill — will buy the under-pressure Dutch coach some more time and lessen the pressure on his shoulders, but it’s still hard to envisage any other scenario than the Red Devils being well off the pace and outside the top four spots come the end of the season given the patent lack of quality, cohesion and footballing philosophy evinced by the team.
