Here’s Daniel Taylor’s match report:
Frustration for Liverpool, delight for Manchester United. Liverpool had most of the play and most of the chances, but they lacked a cutting edge and were thwarted by the outstanding David de Gea on several occasions. United smashed and grabbed. They were highly disappointing and barely created a single chance of note until Rooney pounced near the end. There you go. United move up to fifth and they’re two points off Tottenham. Liverpool stay ninth, eight points off the top four. Thanks for reading. Bye.
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Full-time: Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United
It’s over! Louis van Gaal’s superb record against Liverpool as Manchester United’s manager continues thanks to Wayne Rooney’s winner.
90 min+3: Benteke is caught offside. That should be that.
90 min+1: Mata gives away a free-kick for a handball on the left. Steven Caulker is on for Milner. He’s gone up front. Henderson’s free-kick is headed away.
90 min: There will be a minimum of three added minutes.
89 min: Emre Can seems to have suffered a groin injury. Or not. Suddenly he charges down the right and cuts the ball back to the edge of the area, where Benteke and Milner get in each other’s way. Eventually a shot comes in. It takes a deflection and loops towards Firmino in the six-yard box! He’s not offside! But he can’t bring the ball down and De Gea claims it.
85 min: Rooney, high on confidence now, sends a shot over from 25 yards.
84 min: It should be point out that United’s attention shouldn’t be distracted from their flaws if they win this game.
83 min: A corner to Liverpool on the right. A scramble in the middle. United survive. The Liverpool fans have fallen flat.
82 min: That was Rooney’s first goal at Anfield since 2005. In fact, it was only his second on this ground.
81 min: Liverpool bring on Christian Benteke for Lucas Leiva.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United (Rooney, 78 min)
United take the corner short. The ball’s touched to Mata, who hasn’t done much until now. But here’s a good cross. It comes to Fellaini in the middle and although his header hits the face of the bar, it bounces down for Rooney, who blasts the rebound past the helpless Mignolet. Liverpool’s familiar failings at set-pieces have hurt them again. United have veered between incompetence and mediocrity, but they lead!
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78 min: Martial isolates Toure on the left, but the Liverpool centre-back does well to divert his cross behind for a corner. And...
76 min: Jordon Ibe replaces Adam Lallana.
75 min: Fellaini finally gets his yellow card for a foul on Henderson.
72 min: United make their final change, Mempis Depay replacing Ander Herrera. Liverpool get on with the game. Henderson feeds Milner on the right and his fine cross towards the far post is headed over by Sakho, who just couldn’t jump high enough.
68 min: Lallana skews another shot wide from 25 yards. Is it time for Benteke?
67 min: De Gea makes another wonderful save to deny Can, whose rasping, swerving drive from 25 yards was destined for the right corner until the United goalkeeper pushed it away. The ball runs to Firmino on the left, but De Gea also claws his shot away. Where would United be without him?
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66 min: Juan Mata replaces Jesse Lingard. United have one change left. “The whole match is like being on a 800 calorie a day diet in Paris EOM,” says Mark Turner.
65 min: Smalling is booked for pulling back Firmino in the middle.
63 min: Firmino does brilliantly on the left, reaching a ball ahead of Smalling on the edge of the area, then diddling inside, past a couple of challenges, before teeing up Henderson. He sidefoots carefully at De Gea from 18 yards.
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62 min: Sakho heads the corner away, Darmian shanks one over the bar from 25 yards. Juan Mata is going to come on soon.
61 min: Rooney whips a low cross towards the near post. Kolo Toure, facing his own goal, manages not to send it past Mignolet. Corner to United. “On the other hand, watching Liverpool is like walking into a steakhouse, smelling the food, staring at it and then having every single waiter drop your filet mignon on the way to your table,” says Linda Howard.
60 min: Firmino shoots. Over.
58 min: “Arlo White has told us not to worry because in 47 meetings between these clubs in the “Premier League era” there has only been one game, in 2005, that ended 0-0,” says JR in Illinois. “So we’ve got that going for us.” Everyone hang on in there. Stay strong. We can do this.
56 min: Borthwick-Jackson crosses from the left. It deflects off Clyne, then off Rooney, before falling to Martial. He pings one just past the far post from the left. United have stepped it up all of a sudden.
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53 min: United get Milner’s corner away and Clyne gets a bit excited and wallops a shot miles over from miles out. “Bugger this…watching United these days is like walking into McDonald’s every weekend and coming out with a veggie burger,” says Justin Kavanagh. “I’m off to walk the dog or watch some paint dry somewhere.”
52 min: Toure rumbles forward, dragging players along with him, bodies strewn across the turf. His shot is blocked. Liverpool soon win another corner.
50 min: Firmino finds Lallana, who swiftly turns it to Can on the edge of the area. He suddenly discovers a hitherto unseen turn of pace, using a stepover to fool Smalling and roar past the United centre-back. He’s clear on the left of the United area, but there’s De Gea, to the rescue once more, diverting Can’s low shot behind with his feet. Liverpool have to win this game.
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49 min: Liverpool are putting in a lot of crosses. Christian Benteke is on the bench.
47 min: Liverpool quickly win a corner on the right. Milner takes it, nothing comes from it.
46 min: United get the second half underway. That was the 15th first half in which they’ve failed to score this season. Are you excited?
Half-time: Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United
And that’s all for now. Liverpool have done well, but they’ve missed a few decent chances and have nothing to show for their dominance. They need more of a goal threat. United have been utterly forgettable.
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45 min: Martial skids past Clyne for the first time and speeds into the Liverpool area, but his low shot is blocked by Sakho. There will be two minutes of stoppage time. United still haven’t tested Mignolet.
44 min: Liverpool would be winning this if their good striker was fit.
42 min: Cameron Borthwick-Jackson replaces Ashley Young. He goes to left-back and Darmian will try his luck on the right.
41 min: Young is back on. He’s immediately tackled by Milner again and collapses in pain, holding his injured foot. The Liverpool fans are predictably sympathetic. “As a Liverpool fan I’m very much enjoying Manchester United’s tactic of keeping the ball as far away from Mignolet as possible at corners,” says Niall Mullen.
40 min: Young requires some treatment after being clipped by Milner.
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39 min: Blind swings in another cross from the left. It’s useless. Mignolet catches it and sets Liverpool off on another counter with a throw to Can/ He makes up good ground and has options left and right. Yet sometimes he seems to forget that other players are on the pitch. He’s held up by Young, having held on to the ball for too long, but he does well to recover and prod the ball to Firmino. He’s through on goal! Is the breakthrough about to materialise? Nope. A poor touch from Firmino allows the covering Martial to cleanly muscle him off the ball.
38 min: Rooney runs at Toure on the left. This would have been a good race in 2006. Toure concedes a corner. Rooney never looked like getting round the veteran defender. Blind’s corner is a waste of time.
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37 min: United are failing to match Liverpool’s intensity. They’re asking for trouble. Begging for it. Can Liverpool capitalise?
35 min: Blind’s corner is headed away by Sakho. Liverpool past the test with flying colours!
34 min: United mount a rare counter-attack after a Liverpool move breaks down. Rooney lifts a high cross to the far post, where Fellaini’s header hits Milner and goes behind. Now here’s a test for Liverpool’s defence.
32 min: Another opening for Liverpool, Milner heading on to Henderson. He volleys wastefully over from 25 yards. All the best moments have belonged to Liverpool. “Liquid football!” says Matt Dony. “Liverpool are suddenly playing some fantastic stuff around the Unites area. Which will only make the inevitable loss of intensity and goal conceded at a corner even more depressing. AND I’ve got to back in to the office later on. I hate Sundays.”
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30 min: Clyne burns past Darmian on the right, breezing away from the United left-back far too easily, and drives the ball into the box. Away it goes. But back come Liverpool, eager for more. They carve United open this time. On the edge of the area, Lallana dinks it through to Firmino, who touches it on to Henderson the right. Here’s some space, a rare sight of goal – but Henderson’s drive fizzes inches wide of the far post.
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28 min: Moreno jabs a pass into the area for Henderson, who turns and shoots. A deflection takes it through to De Gea. Not much is going on. “If the ‘cultured’ (e.g. not especially effective) Adam Lallana ever fancies a change in career, his ‘acting’ in that Nivea ads is quite something,” says Kevin Wilson. “No matter what the context, he pulls that same odd smiling face. People used to say that Hugh Grant can only play the same role but it never hurt him did it?”
26 min: Can dithers and dithers and dithers and loses the ball. United have Liverpool exposed. Rooney loses the ball. It breaks to Milner in space on the right. He loses the ball.
23 min: Smalling expertly pings a pass through to Mignolet. The service to Rooney has not been very good.
22 min: Darmian miscues an atrocious backpass towards De Gea, who has to scamper across and boot the ball out for a throw before it goes behind for a corner.
19 min: Fellaini knocks a five-yard pass straight out of play, much to the amusement of the Kop.
Marouane Fellaini's sublime run against Bayern!!! https://t.co/ylgQC1HSD7
— Football Vines (@FootballVines) April 3, 2014
17 min: Liverpool are on top at the moment. This is a good spell for them. Their movement is causing problems for United, but another flowing move ends with Henderson blootering a shot over from 35 yards out. “Having watched the Liverpool V Man Utd clip you posted from 1990, I can’t think of a single current Liverpool player who would get in that line up (I couldn’t spot who was number 6 but guess it was Hansen, ie better than Toure or Sakho. Or Skrtel or Lovren),” says Tim Woods. “Oh for Peter Beardsley rather than Adam Lallana…”
14 min: A tussle on the right ends with Fellaini and Lucas clashing. This is cooking now! Lucas feels that Fellaini went in with his studs up and he makes his displeasure to the Belgian clear, giving him a shove in the chest. Fellaini responds by jutting his head into Lucas’s and it needs Mark Clattenburg to calm everyone down. Fellaini really is a preposterous individual. “No sign of Jose among the United fans, desperately flashing his knickers at the Directors Box?” says Simon McMahon. “I wouldn’t put it past him, in best Lee Nelson style, to just turn up on the United bench and assume the managers job.”
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12 min: Space opens up on the right as Firmino brings the ball down on the left, waits for it to drop, spots the opening and then volleys an inch-perfect diagonal ball through to Milner. Where’s Darmian gone? United look ragged again, but Milner is forced slightly wide on the right of the area and his volley from a tight angle whistles high and wide.
10 min: An instant, Gerrard-esque ball over the top from Lucas catches United’s defence all over the place. Smalling is struggling. Lallana is through. But the ball sits up awkwardly, so he attempts to head it over the advancing De Gea, who easily pushes the ball out. The danger’s not over yet, though, not when the ball runs to Firmino. He composes himself, skips round a challenge and then zips a low shot inches past the right post.
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8 min: Emre Can whips a pass inside to no one in particular. Fellaini gets there before Lucas, who arrives a moment too late and ends up heading the Belgian’s head instead. Oof. Fellaini is floored and he’ll need some treatment.
7 min: Phil Jones is in with the United fans today. He’s managed not to accidentally spill a cup of tea over anyone yet, but there’s still plenty of time.
6 min: Liverpool are struggling to put anything together at the moment. It’s been a cautious start from the hosts.
4 min: United are dominating territory and possession in the opening stages. Martial tries to charge inside from the left, but he’s tripped by Henderson. United have a free-kick. Rooney stands over it, but it’s Blind who crosses instead. His ball into the Liverpool area is headed away by Sakho.
2 min: Lingard has started on the right for Manchester United. Martial is on the left. Liverpool won’t have fond memories of his United debut.
And we’re off! Liverpool, kicking from right to left and defending The Kop in the first half, get the game underway! Firmino is instantly involved, nipping in front of Darmian deep on the right and trying to win a corner. He can’t manage it, though, strong work from Fellaini earning United a goal-kick. “I saw a stat recently that showed Man Utd gaining more points when Fellani wasn’t playing, therefore, despite me being a Und fan, I expect Liverpool to win today,” says Mark Judd.
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Here come the teams! Anfield is buzzing. It’s noisy. The Liverpool fans greet the home team with a huge roar, but you can just make out the travelling United fans in the away end as well. For all that these two sides have struggled to recapture past glories in recent times, this fixture hasn’t lost any of its lustre.
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Jurgen Klopp speaks. “We are not a high pressing game, we press where the ball is. Pressing is not only high pressing. Louis van Gaal has had so much success with the way he likes football.”
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“Looking at the league table, a five goal victory for Liverpool would take them above Man United on goal difference,” says Simon McMahon. “And still looking at the league table, Leicester are top. And Chelsea 14th. Been quite the season so far, hasn’t it?”
Which is all well and good, but Liverpool haven’t had a 5-0 win in this fixture since 1925. Dick Forshaw helped himself to a hat-trick and there were goals from Harry Chambers and Archie Rawlings. Their biggest win in recent years was a 4-0 triumph in 1990, Peter Beardsley scoring a hat-trick.
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Liverpool have made one change from the draw with Arsenal, Jordon “Jordan” Ibe replaced by the steel of Lucas Leiva. It would appear that Klopp wants better protection for his rickety defence. Christian Benteke is on the bench again, with Firmino up front. Klopp doesn’t fancy him, does he? Maybe he’ll have an impact in the second half. As for Manchester United, they are unchanged, with Ander Herrera behind Wayne Rooney and Marouane Fellaini in a deeper position, which means that Juan Mata, the hero at Anfield last season, is on the bench again. There’s talk that Van Gaal let United off the leash against Newcastle. Has he listened to the critics or was all that excitement just a blip? One concern is that every time United open up going forward, they leave themselves exposed at the back. They’ve not got the balance right yet.
The teams!
Liverpool: Mignolet; Clyne, Toure, Sakho, Moreno; Lucas, Henderson, Can; Milner, Lallana; Firmino. Subs: Ward, Caulker, Smith, Allen, Teixeira, Ibe, Benteke.
Manchester United: De Gea; Young, Smalling, Blind, Darmian, Schneiderlin, Fellaini; Lingard, Herrera, Martial; Rooney. Subs: Romero, Borthwick-Jackson, McNair, Varela, Pereira, Mata, Depay.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg.
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Preamble
Hello. The last time Louis van Gaal lost to Jurgen Klopp, he lost his job as well. That was back in February 2011, at a time when Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund were at the beginning of their development into one of the most invigorating attacking sides in Europe and Bayern Munich were growing weary of Van Gaal’s dogmatic methods, and a 3-1 home defeat to the emerging force in German football led to the announcement, nine days later, that the Dutchman’s contract would be cancelled at the end of the season. The end actually came earlier than that, brought forward by a 1-1 draw with Nurnberg in April, but Klopp put the wheels in motion.
Could it go the same way for Van Gaal if Manchester United lose to Klopp’s Liverpool today? It wouldn’t be a surprise if it did. It wouldn’t be a surprise if it didn’t. Having knocked Liverpool off their effin’ perch all those years ago, United have carefully positioned themselves on the fence, and stasis and indecision is threatening to take hold. There have been plenty of opportunities for them to sack Van Gaal in the past few weeks - the Champions League exit, the defeat to Norwich, even the stale FA Cup win over Sheffield United last week - but they’ve kept something resembling faith in Van Gaal for now. That’s partly because of a lack of alternatives and also because of an apparent lack of direction at the top, with United’s chief executive, Ed Wooodward, not exactly convincing. There has been occasional mutiny in the stands because of the paucity of entertainment on offer and Van Gaal is vulnerable. Even he’s admitted that United’s football has bored him at times.
There were a few encouraging signs against Newcastle on Tuesday; a thumping strike from Wayne Rooney, a fine goal from Jesse Lingard, just a general sense that the side was playing with more freedom. They’re not far off the top four. They were top at the end of November! It could end well. But it’s fragile. United scored three on Tuesday. They also conceded three. Their defence has been solid in some games, but it has hardly looked secure against sides who have had a proper go against them. Think of how United capitulated against Arsenal and Wolfsburg, or of Paul Dummett’s late equaliser on Tuesday, or of the chaos at set-pieces against Bournemouth. Or Memphis Depay’s attempted back header against Stoke on Boxing Day. Oh dear.
Fresh from their exhilarating 3-3 draw with Arsenal on Wednesday, Liverpool could expose those deficiencies. Expect a fast start from them and with Klopp admitting that he had furtive talks about replacing Sir Alex Ferguson three years ago, it could be a case of ‘here’s what you could have won’ for United today. Only one Liverpool player got going in this fixture last season and, well, let’s just say that Steven Gerrard took it a little too far, so they’ll be desperate to make amends. If Roberto Firmino plays as well as he did against Arsenal, anything’s possible.
Yet United are not the only side with imperfections. Liverpool’s defence is even more wobbly and though they have had some fine results, beating Chelsea, Manchester City and Leicester, they have been blighted by inconsistency. They’ve been better against the top sides. But Klopp is still working out his best team. The spirit was strong against Arsenal; less so against West Ham. Van Gaal has a 100% record against Liverpool as United’s manager, although all those wins came against Goals on Sunday’s Brendan Rodgers. This is his first meeting with Kop Klopp. And both men will be thinking of that February evening in Munich five years ago.
Kick-off: 2.05pm GMT.
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