FULL TIME: Manchester United 3-1 Liverpool
And that’s that. United wrap up a deserved victory. The first half was beyond appalling, but that second half delivered. Magnificent entertainment. United are suddenly second in the Premier League table. And it looks like they’ve bagged quite the new star in Anthony Martial. What a goal! What an introduction to the Premier League! They’ll be feeling good about themselves tonight, the pressure off Louis van Gaal for now. It’s still beating down on Liverpool, though, who - one moment of genius from Benteke apart - were awful. “My patience with Rodgers has departed,” writes Mike MacKenzie. “Is Klopp available?”
Updated
90 min +3: See 90 min +2.
90 min +2: Liverpool with plenty of the ball in the middle of the park. But they’re going nowhere.
90 min +1: There will be four added minutes, and United see the first one through without fuss. Lovren backflicks a pass to Skrtel on the halfway line. Those stepovers last week ... he just can’t help himself.
90 min: Clyne zips into acres down the right. He whistles a low cross through the United area. Moreno tries to latch onto it, but fresh-air swipes his shot. That went down well with the majority in the stadium.
89 min: Old Trafford is jumping. It’s safe to say this second half has been better than the first!
88 min: Moreno has come on for Lucas. But what an introduction to English football for Martial! Ricky Villa-esque! What a waste of money.
GOAL! Manchester United 3-1 Liverpool (Martial 86)
Yes it is too late for Liverpool! If Benteke’s goal was an instant classic, then what about this?! Martial takes up possession on the left wing. He slips past Clyne and into the area. He then jinks past a confused Skrtel, stunning skill at close range, and curls a peach of a shot into the bottom right. Mignolet no chance! That’s a wonder goal!
Updated
GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool (Benteke 84)
But Liverpool come back at United quickly. Ibe busies himself down the right. The ball loops across to Benteke, who is level with the left-hand post, 12 yards out, his back to goal. He twists and whistles an unstoppable bicycle kick into the top right! A stunning goal - but is it too late for Liverpool?
Updated
83 min: This is better from Liverpool. Origi makes off down the right, then backheels for Ibe, who cuts inside and curls one towards the top left from the right-hand edge of the D. It’s a fine effort, met with an equally fine save from De Gea. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
81 min: Liverpool can’t get a sniff of the ball. United are running down the clock in the professional style.
79 min: Fellaini opens his legs down the right, striding into space. He decides to have a dig from 25 yards. It clatters straight into Lovren, who spread himself bravely there. “What I can deal with as a fan is poor performances but what’s different with this Rodgers team is the mental weakness,” writes Nick Murphy. “The Spice Boys were lazy but they never lacked confidence. The last two years of Rodgers have been defined by carelessness and fear.”
78 min: United playing a lot of keepball here. Who can blame them? They’ve done the hard part.
76 min: Milner finds a bit of space down the right. He reaches the byline and whips a high ball to the near post, where Benteke clumps a dreadful header high and wide right. Liverpool have been desperately poor, their efforts up front feeble.
75 min: Milner is booked for a frustrated lunge on Young. That was an awful challenge. He can have no complaints.
74 min: Liverpool take off Ings and send on Origi. “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” trills Old Trafford collectively. A bad day for Brendan Rodgers all right.
73 min: Ings looks to control a high ball down the left wing. He’s stopped from doing so by a cynical Darmian, who is booked. Milner takes the free kick. Three rugby points.
72 min: United, perhaps sensing the job done, replace Carrick with Schneiderlin.
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Liverpool (Herrera 70 pen)
Herrera, having earned the penalty, gets up and roofs the penalty into the left-hand side of the goal. A harsh lesson for young Gomez there. He’s a very promising defender, but Herrera was going nowhere, and there was no need to dive in. United are in control now.
Updated
Penalty for Manchester United!
69 min: Carrick slides a pass down the inside-right channel. Herrera romps after it. Gomez slides in from behind, and takes Herrera down. No question.
Updated
67 min: Young, having rolled his ankle, is down receiving treatment. It looks as though he’ll be OK, as he gets up and, after a brief hobble, breaks into a jog.
66 min: That’s Firmino’s last act of the game. He’s hooked in favour of Ibe. Meanwhile United hand a debut to pricy youngster Martial; Mata makes way for him.
Updated
64 min: Milner threads a ball down the left wing. Benteke nearly bursts clear, but Darmian steps in to concede a corner. Ings flicks a header goalwards. Blind clears off the line. The ball squirts to Firmino by the right-hand post. The £29m player should smack the ball home, but squirts a dreadfully timid effort wide from a couple of yards. What a miss!
Updated
63 min: Lucas has space in front of him down the inside-right channel. He’s got options either side, but dillies and dallies. Eventually the ball’s taken off him. So ponderous.
61 min: ... and whips it over the bar.
Updated
60 min: Lovren brings down Fellaini, in a fairly central position, 25 yards from goal. A free kick for United in a very dangerous position. Young stands over it ...
57 min: United clear the set piece, but Lovren heads the ball back into the mixer down the inside-left channel. Ings meets the dropping ball, attempting a volley into the top left. He doesn’t quite connect, though, allowing De Gea to claw out for another corner on the left. That one’s easily dealt with. This is a bit better from Liverpool who have, in the wake of going behind, finally decided to attack with a little determination.
Updated
56 min: A poor kick upfield by De Gea nearly gifts Liverpool an equaliser. Clyne slides the ball down the inside-right channel to release Firmino, who squares the ball through the six-yard box for Benteke. Blind hacks out for a corner.
53 min: Shaw and Young combine nicely down the left, the former chasing after a chipped pass from the latter. Shaw is forced to turn back, but then hoicks a fine cross to the far post, where Mata is caught a yard offside as he tries to lay off for Fellaini. United are really pushing for a second goal here. A second would surely be decisive. One is probably enough, so inept have Liverpool been in attack.
51 min: United look to turn the screw, having opened the scoring. Mata tries to dink the ball forward down the inside-left channel to release Herrera. Skrtel is forced to concede a corner. And it’s another fancy set piece move, the ball shuttled back up the left wing and Carrick whipping it towards the far post, where Schweinsteiger should really control and hammer home from eight yards. But he miscontrols and the ball squirts wide right. United have really turned up the pace here. Liverpool don’t know what’s hit them.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool (Blind 49)
This is a stunning free kick! Liverpool have packed the six-yard box. The only defender further out is Clyne, so Schweinsteiger makes a run to pull him back towards goal. Space opens up. Mata pulls the ball back to the edge of the area. Blind rushes in, opens his body, and sends a pearler into the top-left corner! Unstoppable! Much credit to Young, too, for earning that set piece. Old Trafford erupts!
Updated
48 min: Young injects a bit of pace into proceedings. He bursts down the left and threatens to go past Clyne. The Liverpool right back steps across his man. It’s a free kick, just outside the area, and a booking for Clyne. And from the set piece ...
47 min: United spend the first couple of minutes of the second half getting a feel of the ball.
They're off again!
So the next 45 minutes can’t be any worse than the first half. They could be equally bad, it’s true, but they can’t be any worse. It’s not much, but it’s something. United get proactive, replacing the reasonably lively Depay with Ashley Young. Then they get the ball rolling again. Onwards, upwards.
Half-time advertisement: The latest issue of Jonathan Wilson’s mag The Blizzard has a long essay by Rob Smyth on the 2-2 draw between United and Liverpool from October 1995. He uses the match as a peg on which to hang a whip-smart, warm-hearted and highly entertaining new take on Fergie’s greatest side and the legacy of the Spice Boys. It’s right up there with Smyth’s best work, which as regular readers of this site will know, clears one hell of a high bar. You can order it on a pay-what-you-like basis here.
HALF TIME: Manchester United 0-0 Liverpool
Dear me.
Updated
45 min: Lucas is bollocked by the referee for persistent fouling. No card, though. Schweinsteiger romps towards the Liverpool box. The crowd bay for a shot. Nothing happens. They howl in anger. An arena of discontent. Nobody’s happy.
42 min: Can and Mignolet exchange passes under no pressure from the nearby Depay whatsoever. They somehow nearly manage to confuse each other into the concession of an own goal, Mignolet shanking a pass out wide to the right wing, Can nearly slipping it back past his keeper. Mignolet, shame-faced, scampers back to swing his left leg at the ball. Finally it’s cleared. The ball nearly beyond the keeper. The passage of play certainly beyond abject.
39 min: A bit of space for Depay down the left. He chips inside. Fellaini, perhaps put off by Herrera jumping ahead of him, lets the ball clank off his shin. This is dismal fare. The two biggest clubs in the country. The second half will be better than the first. It has to be.
37 min: Can in more space down the left. If he gets his head up, he’d see both Benteke and Firmino in space, begging for a pass. The pass doesn’t come. Liverpool are beginning to come into this a little, though.
35 min: Can powers down the inside-left channel, having been sprung into space by Milner. He’s got Benteke just ahead of him. The right pass, and Benteke is clear on goal. But Can hesitates, Smalling steps up, and Benteke is caught well offside. The striker goes to curl the ball into the bottom-right corner anyway, and misses comfortably, much to the Old Trafford faithful’s glee. That was a real chance for Liverpool, with United caught light at the back.
34 min: Carrick in the centre circle. A pass out wide to Shaw ends up in the stand. The home support howl in frustration. United have been the better team so far, but the bar’s not high.
Updated
31 min: Firmino has the ball at his feet with plenty of grass ahead of him down the right. Instead of scuttling into it, he opts to check back. Possession’s eventually lost. What a business. “I hate that my team is now an unthinking, non spontaneous machine with a pre-programmed plan that does not work,” writes Ian Copestake. “No guts, no improvisation, no actual attempt to pass to each other. I am moving ever closer to the Klopp camp.” A Liverpool fan there, though the words could be coming from either camp, couldn’t they.
29 min: A free kick for United, out on the right. Clumsy Lucas. A chance to load the box. Mata curls the ball into the area. Too high. Mignolet comes off his line to claim. The keeper’s long kick upfield is aimless. This match is a low-quality affair right now. The only way is up.
27 min: Firmino wins a heading duel with Shaw on the right-hand corner of the United box. The ball drops to Benteke, who shapes his body for a Zidane-style volley, but pauses before going through with the kicking motion, and Smalling clears.
25 min: Depay has a dig from 25 yards. His shot nearly hits the corner flag on the right. Liverpool go up the other end, Ings scooping a pass down the inside-left channel with a view to releasing Benteke. Blind wins a physical battle against a player twice his size, and clears the danger.
24 min: Depay knocks the ball round Clyne down the left. He very nearly breaks clear into the box, but Clyne is tenacious and recovers well to blatter the ball away from danger.
22 min: Depay busies himself down the left and earns a corner. United load the box, play it short, and faff about. Blind belatedly hoicks the ball into the area from the left, but Mignolet punches clear with confidence.
21 min: Shaw, tight on the left-hand touchline, creams a lovely pass down the wing to release Fellaini down the flank. The flag goes up for offside. The correct decision, though there wasn’t much in it. Liverpool’s back line dicing with trouble there.
19 min: Liverpool haven’t been particularly coherent in attack, though this is a bit better. Gomez, down the left, whips a lovely long cross to Benteke at the far post. Shaw just about does enough to put Benteke off, but the ball breaks to Clyne, who shoots from 30 yards. Nope. But it’s an effort, and perhaps the first sign that Liverpool are getting a small foothold in this match.
18 min: Liverpool keep trying to play the ball out from the back. They repeatedly fail to manage it. On Sky, Gary Neville suggests the tactic is foolish, because their central defenders simply aren’t good enough ball players. And yet there’s Sakho on the bench, and Ilori loaned out to Aston Villa.
16 min: Herrera plays a blind pass down the left wing to nobody. Clyne, assuming the absent Depay is behind him, concedes a most needless corner. Blind hoicks one in from the left. Skrtel heads clear, but United are soon coming back at Liverpool through Herrera down the right. Another corner. Depay to take this one. It’s a non-event. Though Liverpool are finding it very difficult to clear their lines. United keep coming back at them. There’s no route out.
14 min: Ings finds himself in a bit of space down the inside-left channel. He’s got Firmino just inside and ahead of him. Pick the right pass, and Firmino will be sent clear on goal. But Ings plays the ball behind Firmino. The danger over.
12 min: Carrick, in the centre circle, sprays a gorgeous diagonal ball towards Darmian on the right. Darmian is in space in the area, and pulls back for Fellaini on the penalty spot. But Fellaini can’t control. Liverpool mop up. United have enjoyed 72% of possession so far. They’re well on top.
10 min: Depay threatens to tear clear down the left wing. He’s brought to the ground by Lovren, but the referee doesn’t whistle. United have their tails up.
Updated
8 min: Liverpool are all over the shop. Depay nearly bursts clear into the area down the inside-left channel, but can’t quite get a shot away. Then another phase. Depay crosses into the box from the left. Mignolet only just manages to fingertip the ball away from the lurking Fellaini. Liverpool are currently looking exactly like the sort of team that ships three at home to West Ham United.
7 min: United launch it long. Mignolet comes to the edge of his area to gather. The keeper then rolls the ball out towards Lovren, only to clank it into Mata’s heels. The ball breaks to Fellaini, who should hit an unguarded target from 25 yards, but hoicks the ball over the bar.
Updated
5 min: A clumsy pass from Skrtel to nobody, deep in the Liverpool half. Fellaini nearly latches onto the loose ball, but Lucas tracks back to deal with the situation. A nervous moment for Liverpool’s notoriously shaky defence there.
4 min: United start pinging it around a bit. Shaw is seeing quite a lot of the ball out on the left. Schweinsteiger and Carrick with some fairly metronomic stuff in the middle. Liverpool are struggling to retain possession.
2 min: All a bit scrappy early doors. Completed passes at a premium during the initial exchanges.
And we're off!
A thundering atmosphere at Old Trafford, as you’d expect ahead of a fixture like this. Liverpool get in a huddle, and are booed for their trouble. Firmino and Can get the ball rolling, the hosts kicking towards the Stretford End in the first half. Wonderfuel stuff.
The teams are out! Manchester United in their famous red, white and black, Liverpool in their all-white away kit. We’ll be off in a minute. “Half-and-half scarves are the coalition government of scarves,” begins Tim Smyth. “Means of production won’t be seized by lads wearing half-and-half scarves. Jean Jaurès never wore a half-and-half scarf. Corbynho will never wear a half-and-half scarf.” Yes, folks, there’s something in the air today all right. A few red flags sure to be flying come sundown, one way or the other.
Tonight’s half-and-half scarf: Here’s a young woman with a brand-new 100% wool souvenir draped around her neck.
She’s over the moon with her new purchase, a harmless memento which will serve as a reminder of this particular day out for the rest of her life. Lovely to see. Particularly good to see her wearing it while taking a curmudgeon-baiting selfie. Hopefully she’ll spend the match sitting in front of a particularly miserable fundamentalist, beside himself with rage due to the reactionary belief that half-and-half scarves are somehow ruining football as we know it. He can fume all he likes, the impotent steam pouring from his ears captured in the background of one of the many selfies this fan takes throughout the match.
No Wayne Rooney for Manchester United. He’s out with hamstring trouble. But it’s swings and roundabouts for the home side. David De Gea returns in goal, while new starlet Anthony Martial is on the bench. Marouane Fellaini leads the line, with a view perhaps to bullying the under-fire stepover king Dejan Lovren, who despite continued poor form has once again been given the nod at the back for Liverpool ahead of Mamadou Sakho. Brendan Rodgers can’t be accused of timidity, though: Danny Ings is named in a Liverpool starting XI for the first time, one of three attackers alongside Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino.
The teams
Manchester United: De Gea, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Carrick, Schweinsteiger, Mata, Ander Herrera, Depay, Fellaini.
Subs: Rojo, Martial, Young, Romero, Valencia, Schneiderlin, McNair.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Skrtel, Lovren, Gomez, Can, Lucas, Milner, Ings, Benteke, Firmino.
Subs: Toure, Sakho, Moreno, Origi, Ibe, Bogdan, Rossiter.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
Preamble
You’ll have no doubt heard the argument, made by quite a few people in quite a few places, that with Manchester United and Liverpool in transitional phases and other clubs in the ascendency, this fixture doesn’t matter quite so much these days. Perhaps, perhaps. Then again, let’s wait until 7.30pm tonight to gauge the apocalyptic reaction should United win 3-0, like they did last season, or if Liverpool triumph 3-0, like they did the season before that. Let’s see how much it doesn’t matter then.
It’s still the biggest fixture in the Premier League, isn’t it, and as usual, the latest staging has the potential to be seismic. Though results haven’t been totally disastrous, neither team has started the season particularly impressively. United aren’t their usual swashbuckling selves, and have just been bossed by Swansea City yet again. Liverpool meanwhile have just lost to West Ham United at home for the first time since Harold Macmillan was prime minister. Both managers are under severe early-season pressure: there are rumours Louis van Gaal is losing the dressing room, Brendan Rodgers continues to take a conspicuously long time to rediscover his mojo after the heartache of 2013-14, and Jurgen Klopp is watching the whole thing unfold from the comfort of his sofa. So this match could give one of these managers a much-needed fillip. A big win could change everything. A big defeat could change everything. This fixture doesn’t matter any more? Let’s see how much this fixture doesn’t matter any more.
A couple of players who could have a big impact? David de Gea, a freshly signed new contract in his back pocket, could make his return for United. If he does, can he immediately find the sort of form that broke Liverpool’s spirit here last season? Meanwhile will Rodgers retain faith in Dejan Lovren, who is beginning to make Bjørn Tore Kvarme look like the second coming of Alan Hansen? Much will depend on how the evening pans out for this pair. If they’re selected. Never mind the match itself, the teamsheets will be fascinating enough. It’s the biggest, fiercest, most glamorous fixture in the Premier League. It could potentially shape the medium-to-long-term futures of both clubs. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm in Manchester, 5.30pm on Merseyside.
Updated
