The Red Devils' impressive display demonstrated the coach's qualities, but also made a mockery of the club's decision to not hire him last summer
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…
Getty Images SportWINNER: Ruben Amorim
Amorim was in serious danger of becoming the first United manager since Dave Sexton in 1979 to preside over four league defeats in a row, but he demonstrated he does know what he's doing and that he can make something of this team if given the right support and amount of time.
The coach sent a message to his players before the game as he declared the squad was "starving for leaders" and put the onus on them to show some character. They did just that. The coach, however, also deserves credit for his gameplan. His side prevented Liverpool from playing to their strengths by disrupting them in midfield and they counter-attacked in numbers rather than flying forward in isolation.
The performance was another demonstration that the coach can hold his own against a top side after beating Manchester City with both Sporting CP and United already this season. The real test will come next week at Arsenal after another clear week on the training ground to "sell his idea" to his players.
AdvertisementAFPLOSER: Trent Alexander-Arnold
Trent Alexander-Arnold has been dominating the headlines amid reports that Real Madrid want to sign him now after making a ÂŁ20 million bid this week, and it looked as if the Spanish giants' interest in him had gone to his head as he was all over the place on Sunday. Alexander-Arnold has never been the best defender, but he couldn't even do the basics right as United ran amok down his right-hand side, fashioning two key chances in the first half.
He also had an absolute horror show when United took the lead, gifting the ball to Lisandro Martinez in the first place, failing to pressure Bruno Fernandes and then losing track of the Argentine before he smashed in off the bar. Alexander-Arnold offered very little in attack either as he barely troubled Martinez or Diogo Dalot. But his defending was the main concern, and Madrid's top brass would have been understandably concerned while they were watching from the Spanish capital.
"There’s talk about him going to Real Madrid, but the way he’s defending he’ll be going to Tranmere Rovers after this," said Roy Keane in a typically cutting but not unfair assessment of Alexander-Arnold's performance on . "We talk about how brilliant Trent is going forward, but Trent’s defending today, my goodness… It’s like schoolboy stuff. "
AFPWINNER: Lisandro Martinez
Martinez, AKA 'The Butcher', had been serving up hugely disappointing cuts of late, but he sharpened his knives for the biggest game of all and delivered a complete performance. The World Cup-winning Argentine appeared to be one of the players Amorim was referring to when he urged senior players to step up and show more leadership, but this was the type of performance United fans wanted to see and which they grew accustomed to seeing in his brilliant debut campaign.
Martinez showed steel and aggression in defence to shut Liverpool down in his area while he also played on the front foot, unleashing attacks with his passes from deep and pushing up into the final third. His goal encapsulated everything fans love about him: hunger to win the ball back, intelligent movement in possession and then an unstoppable finish, topped off with a furiously passionate celebration.
The defender then took responsibility for the team's recent woeful results but vowed that performances like the one at Anfield had to become the norm. He said: "If you saw the last few games, it was poor. It's true and we accept that. Today we played really well and we have to believe. Football really is mental. We changed our mindset. The belief, the confidence and I saw everyone secure today. With confidence in every duel, with the pass, defending."
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Getty Images SportLOSER: Matthijs de Ligt & Harry Maguire
While Martinez had one of his best games in a United shirt, his two defensive partners, De Ligt and Maguire, would have left the game feeling glum, albeit for very different reasons.
De Ligt was the weak link in the back-three and made two judgement calls which were pivotal to both of Liverpool's goals. His first mistake was to dive in on Cody Gakpo, which allowed for his international team-mate to dribble across the box and open up a far better shooting angle than if he had been shown outside. The forward still deserves credit for his trickery and his wonderful strike, but De Ligt had made things much easier for him. The defender also showed a lack of focus when he threw his hand into the air as he tried to challenge Mac Allister, giving the VAR team little choice but to advise referee Michael Oliver to review the play and award a penalty. De Ligt thus looked furious with himself when he left the pitch to be replaced by Leny Yoro.
So too did Maguire, who had been excellent throughout the game but then bungled a glorious chance to give United their first win at Anfield in nine years. pundit Daniel Sturridge criticised Joshua Zirkzee's quality of ball, but Keane was right to declare that Maguire should have buried the chance rather than spoon it over the bar.