Manchester United centre back Matthijs de Ligt revealed that his side had been sent out with the specific brief of targeting Liverpool’s two fullbacks, Milos Kerkez and Conor Bradley, which he described as a clear “weakness” for the defending Premier League champions.
United’s early opener in Sunday’s 2–1 victory at Anfield duly came down Kerkez’s left wing, although Virgil van Dijk wasn’t entirely without blame. Liverpool’s towering centre back failed to get much purchase on a headed clearance inside the opening minute, making more firm contact with the back of Alexis Mac Allister’s scalp.
As Bruno Fernandes funnelled the ball out to Amad Diallo on the wing, where he was met by a timid Kerkez, Van Dijk trotted back into position, half-heartedly pointed over his shoulder at the blur of white sprinting between himself and Ibrahima Konaté. Bryan Mbeumo finished through a weak Giorgi Mamardashvili and Liverpool’s defence were left to look around at each other in shock.
“We knew that Liverpool had weaknesses, and that’s their fullbacks,” De Ligt revealed to Viaplay after the match. “We were all really hyped, and the focus was very high. Today was a game that you really have to be concentrated.”
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Kerkez never got to grips with the double act of Amad and Mbeumo. Liverpool’s summer recruit from Bournemouth has endured a testing start to his Anfield career and offered little reassurance on Sunday. Such was Van Dijk’s frustration with the left back that, after inadvertently kicking the ball into Kerkez’s face, it was the Dutch captain who demanded an apology.
Bradley was less troubled on the opposite flank, largely because Mason Mount was more likely to tuck infield rather than dribble at him like Mbeumo, but Matheus Cunha wreaked havoc across the backline with his role as a roving forward.
“Sometimes the characteristic of the game change the way we approach it,” United head coach Ruben Amorim explained. “Cunha in the middle, if we put Ben [Šeško] it is easier for this kind of centre backs to control our striker. This kind of game, when we win, the coach is so smart and when we lose, the problem is the manager.”
Bruno Fernandes: Anfield Crowd Worked Against Liverpool
United had not won at Anfield since 2016 before Sunday’s unexpected triumph. During that nine-year drought, Liverpool’s famous home support had routinely overwhelmed the gaggle of underwhelming iterations of Manchester United which they had hosted. However, in the eyes of Fernandes at least, the Merseyside crowd worked against Liverpool this weekend.
“We knew that we had to win our duels. In the first 10 minutes, we knew they would try to start the game very strongly,” United’s skipper outlined to BBC Sport.
“Also, in the first half, we understood that they were under pressure when they had time on the ball, the fans were putting them in a difficult position and booing for them to play quicker. We wanted to slow their game, and we knew that would give massive spaces around the middle. In the second half, we could have played a little bit more on the ball.”
Van Dijk agreed with part of Fernandes’s analysis. “We were far too rushed,” he sighed. “United were obviously very patient. They didn’t press us that high and they let us have the ball. I think we made rash decisions at times where we had to stay maybe a little bit calm.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Matthijs de Ligt Names Two Liverpool Players Man Utd Targeted in Anfield Triumph.
