Our 3️⃣ points after Liverpool blow Man Utd away at Anfield | OneFootball

Liverpool moved to the top of the Premier League after breezing past Manchester United at Anfield.

Here is what we made of it.

A message to Manchester

That was some performance from Liverpool.

Jürgen Klopp’s side had won 19 out of their last 22 games going into tonight but some of those victories since the start of the run in mid-January have been ground out and not at all ‘pretty’ at times.

That could not be levelled at them tonight, in a game where they put their arch enemy to the sword and laid to rest the childhood nightmares of some supporters who had seen Manchester United dominate through the 90’s and 00’s.

Liverpool barely let their visitors breathe in the first half, ravaging on any second ball that dropped, consistently hassling their opponents and pinging the ball around with ease.

The 5-0 win over the same opponent at Old Trafford in October was as a result of extreme dominance whereas this was the big kid at school bullying the smaller kid for his lunch money played out in front of an audience of more than 50,000.

They mustered over 70% possession, completed over 850 passes and only allowed their opponents to have two shots at goal throughout the 90 minutes.

This was a statement win over one half of Manchester but the message was intended for the half not involved.

Conductor at play

There was an alleged quote attributed to Bill Shankly where he believed a football team was like a piano where it needed eight people to carry it but three who can play it.

Forget the piano, Thiago Alcântara is conducting his own orchestra for Liverpool on a weekly basis at the moment while we are all left in awe like watching Beethoven parading around the Vienna Philharmonic.

In the 14 league games that the Spaniard has started this season, Liverpool have won 13 and drawn one. Without him in the side they have played 18, won ten, drawn six and lost two.

When fit, the 31-year-old is one of the most complete midfielders in Europe.

His ability to thread a through ball past a crowded midfield will have needles in haystacks concerned for their safety, while his pressing and tackling nous will have Klopp bowing down at his feet.

He won seven of his duels, completed all three of his dribbles and was responsible for three key passes in his 80 minutes on the pitch.

This was a midfield masterclass.

Red Devils left feeling blue

The Manchester United fans in attendance at Anfield will not be enjoying their short trip back up the M62 this evening.

The 22-point gap between the two sides in the table will have left United supporters with the knowledge that they are not competing on the same field as their arch rivals at the moment but they would not have expected the class divide to have been presented so heavily.

It is an aggregate score of 9-0 to Liverpool after the two meetings this season and the worst part of the display is how easy they made it look for their opponents.

United managed just one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes and didn’t complete a pass in the final third until the 41st minute.

Jadon Sancho’s introduction from the bench offered Ralf Rangnick’s side a better showing in the second half without ever truly threatening Alisson Becker’s goal.

It was another purgatory performance from a side waiting to be put out of their misery.

The Erik ten Hag era cannot start soon enough.