Rumours of Manchester United’s demise, it turns out, have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, the Red Devils are 12 points off the Premier League’s top five and only seven points from the relegation zone. But they turned up at the home of runaway leaders Liverpool and earned a 2-2 draw while coming agonisingly close to snatching all three points.
Many United fans were keeping their fingers crossed that Sunday’s game at Anfield would be postponed due to heavy snow given their shambolic recent results and Liverpool’s imperious form. But when the game kicked off, their team did not freeze.
Ruben Amorim’s side nullified Arne Slot’s in the first half, took a deserved lead with Lisandro Martinez’s thunderous strike and then overcame conceding twice in the space of seven minutes to equalise through Amad Diallo, before Harry Maguire spurned a dream opportunity to grab the winner deep in added time.
The defender’s horrendous miss, however, should not cast a downer on what was a hugely impressive performance from United, one which vindicated their decision to appoint Amorim, who was also one of Liverpool’s top candidates before they opted for Slot.
The Portuguese coach had lost six of his first 11 games in charge, but due to fixture congestion had only four training sessions with his whole squad available. For this one, though, he had a whole six days to prepare, and he put it to good use as his side finally looked like they knew what they wanted to do and how to do it.
The performance and result, however, further underlined the fact that United should have appointed Amorim back in the summer rather than keep Erik ten Hag in charge. Had Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his fellow executives been more ruthless and got the Portuguese on board for pre-season, then he would have had months to get his ideas across to his players rather than the smattering of sessions he has had to implement his methods.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from Anfield…