What stands out about Liverpool’s win over Manchester United isn’t that it happened — they were at home, and there’s a reason the sides were separated by 16 points at kickoff — it’s the way it occurred.
To put on a display of this intensity just a few days after a massive Champions League clash isn’t to be taken lightly. It’s not just a physical thing — it’s mental as well. Great teams can win multiple games in a row against big opponents; doing it while also turning in top-notch performances is rather rarer.
That Jurgen Klopp managed to do it with Nathaniel Clyne, who had played just 90 minutes this season, and Naby Keita, drafted in as a late replacement for the injured James Milner, is significant, too. Xherdan Shaqiri’s two goals may have benefited from deflections, but make no mistake about it, this was a road-grading: 36 shots on goal, with every outfield player having a crack and a 20-minute spell at the beginning in which Manchester United were put through the heavy spin cycle.
Did Manchester United contribute to their own downfall? Sure. Jose Mourinho’s continuous chopping and changing of personnel and formations only makes United more awkward and insecure. On the other hand, there’s Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Because United have, with a few exceptions, been consistently subpar since October, you can’t entirely blame the manager for trying to shake things up week to week. That said, against a side that you know will press high and intensely, lining up a midfield without a passer to break the pressure (yes, the obvious name is Paul Pogba, but Juan Mata can hit a pass, too) seems counterintuitive at best.
One curious thing about Liverpool is that although they are ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table, most still have Pep Guardiola’s crew as overwhelming favorites. So, too, do the betting markets, who predict that Liverpool will finish five points behind City at the end of the season. These are just predictions and projections, of course, and they could well be wrong, but it’s interesting how people who make a living off of predicting the (footballing) future are still firmly on the City bandwagon to the point that they think Guardiola will make up six points on Klopp in 21 games.
Asked to analyze the situation, Mourinho said: “We have lots of players [who] I could consider injury-prone, because some of our players are always injured … and it’s not with me. If you look at the stats with [Louis] Van Gaal and David [Moyes], we have players who are permanently injured.”
“Then there are qualities that a player has or doesn’t have,” he added, going on to cite a number of Liverpool players who are both physically and technically adept. “We don’t have many players with that intensity.”
On the one hand, you’re delighted to hear some actual analysis from a manager, rather than the usual anodyne coachspeak. On the other hand, there’s a reason why people “plead the fifth” to avoid incriminating themselves.
Mourinho signed 10 outfield players over five transfer windows. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are gone. Paul Pogba is rooted to the bench, and Eric Bailly would be, too, if not for Chris Smalling’s injury.
Alexis Sanchez is injured and was poor before his injury. Victor Lindelof has started 25 of 55 league games since his arrival (and is just back from injury). Diogo Dalot is a kid, and Fred is like that Christmas present you desperately want and then discard as soon as it’s opened. That leaves Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic, both of whom have plenty of physicality, although perhaps not the dynamic intensity Mourinho feels he needs.
As for all those guys he inherited? Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Smalling, Jesse Lingard, Antonio Valencia and Marouane Fellaini all signed new contracts during Mourinho’s time as manager. Oh, and Ashley Young, Mata, Anthony Martial and Ander Herrera are all rumoured to be in contract talks, in addition to the one-year extension options the club already holds.
In other words, he’s been there two and a half years, and this is the team he has built, based on the choices he made. Kudos for his honesty, but either Ed Woodward really is the root-of-all-evil ogre some make him out to be, or the buck stops with the guy Mourinho sees when he looks in the mirror.
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