Liverpool 7-0 Man Utd: A call for Carrick over Ten Hag in a disappointingly level-headed Mailbox…
In the main, Man Utd fans are taking their Anfield annihilation on the chin, while Liverpool supporters seem too stunned to really gloat. There is some knee-jerkery, though…
Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…
A positive spin to seven
A 9-0 aggregate last year. Just 8-2 this season. It’s still progress.
Bagpuss
All-time low
Quite simply the most embarrassing, utterly disgraceful performance and result of my lifetime. I can think of no punishment even close to harsh enough to inflict on the players involved. Congratulations to Liverpool, they totally destroyed us.
Ted, Manchester
Taking it on the chin
Liverpool scored 7 from an xg of 2.7. They scored 7 from 8 shots on target. Every single Manchester United player had a bad game. Every Liverpool player played well above where they have done for months. But these things happen in football. They happen to every team. We were terrible, but this doesn’t make Ten Hag any less a great manager, any of these players less good, and doesn’t make the season any less successful.
Yes it hurts, but we already have a trophy and are favourites/second favourites for two more, and we’re almost certain of finishing top 4 even with this being our first season under Ten Hag. Offer me the situation where we’d have a trophy and a top four place, while Liverpool are getting chucked out of the CL by Real and struggling to make top 4 after a disastrous season, but it came with a 7-0 battering at Liverpool and I would have bitten your hand off.
I hope most United fans are being sensible and realising that these blips happen and that we shouldn’t be too upset. But obviously opposing fans and the media will be loving a flashback to before we were good again.
Calum (see Liverpool 2-7 Aston Villa as another example) MUFC, Wokingham
…That was the worst performance I have seen from United in a long time.
The first half was not that bad as we grew into the half but conceding before the half completely killed our momentum. The second half was the worse half Ive seen from United. Conceding two goals 5 minutes after the break should never happen for any team especially United.
I believe Ten Hag got it wrong with the selection as I feel Wan-Bissaka and Sabitzer should have started. The worse thing I saw him do was bringing McTominay on instead of Sabitzer. The only thing that happens with McTominay coming on is he gets booked or costs you a goal which he did both with 15 minutes of being on the pitch.
The players gave up after 3-0 which I never want to see and is not acceptable. I had been worrying that the number of games we have played would catch up to us but I was not expecting that type of performance against our biggest rivals. This game also showed how the Glazers are still the reason we have problems as two of the players Ten Hag wanted in Gakpo and Nunez scored 4 against us. If we had owners who could do their job we would have been the ones winning 7-0
Overall, This was just disgraceful from United and can not be forgotten. I feel this was a game that showed that Ten Hag is not a magician and can make mistakes, especially in his first season in a new league. All I can hope is that we fix our mistakes and come back stronger which I believe can happen especially with Ten Hag as he is still the correct man for the job today just showed that he can make mistakes. Also never play McTominay again.
Max Of Whitegate
…So obviously it would be an understatement to say I am not happy. There’s a hint of embarrassment as we lost our heads and got swept up in occasion. We were the better team as the first half was dying to a close but obviously they got their goal and kicked on from there. Good luck to them, they won their cup final and are now pushing hard for 4th place. Will they raise their game as much against Bournemouth one wonders. Or will we lower our game as much at any stage again this season I wonder more.
Either way, freak results happen and we’ll dust ourselves off and keep on doing what we have been doing all season. Expecting the same reaction as we had after the Brentford match. Kick on and hopefully win another trophy while ensuring we get Champions League football next season.
It hurts like hell, but take it on the chin and move on.
Garey Vance, MUFC
…Since the darkest days of the pandemic, when there was no good news nor any in sight, I will not be reading any newspapers or websites today. Too traumatic.
I wrote in after the Barcelona match at OT, that I was worried about how tired Man United were looking, and after Newcastle and then West Ham, the 9 games per month United are playing caught up with them,
That said, well played to Liverpool, outfought us from start to end all over the pitch, and (painfully for 90 minutes) I sensed this United team did not cope with how hard it is to play at Anfield. Too often United’s pass choice and execution was badly, horribly wrong, especially in the second half (obviously). If we had taken one of our chances in the first half, it may have quietened the crowd down. But I reckon for the first time in this team’s United career, they were playing in a ground where United’s away supporters were drowned out by the home fans. It can be, and for United is often, a horrible place to play,and fair play to their fans for that.
Where from here? Well it could have an ongoing effect, time will tell, but as my wife (with a lot more insight than me about most things everything) said, when I woke up and shouted “FFS we just lost 7-0 last night”, this United is still a good team. Not like the shitshow of recent seasons defeats.
My email before the cup win also said “Right now, I’d take a top 4 and a win on Sunday, anything else a bonus Oh, maybe Liverpool being in the Europa Conference as an added bonus..” Well my granny would be telling me last night serves me right for tempting fate and being such a bloody smug git.
Ged Biglin
…Not much to say about that from United other than that every single player in the starting eleven should be embarrassed. That was the single worst half of football United have played in my lifetime. Props to Liverpool though, devastatingly clinical and a good time to produce their best performance of the season.
I’ve had a feeling United we’re due a drubbing just a shame it was at Anfield. United Liverpool games rarely follow any sort of logic but if United don’t start turning up at Anfield we can kiss goodbye to any title talk in the future. Luckily 7-0 has the same weight as 1-0 and football is often more about how you bounce back from defeat than how you lose in the first place. and it’s happened now and I can tell you there are definitely worse feelings in life.
I’m even more dreading a Qatar takeover now because that’ll be the last Liverpool-United game I watch and that is not a good way to go out!
Bring on Betis
Ash
Read more: 16 Conclusions on Liverpool 7 (SEVEN) Man Utd 0: Salah, Fernandes, Gakpo, Shaw, Nunez and…
Lessons to be learned
Well, I was definitely pissed yesterday night after that nightmare of a match.
That performance was bad even for the United side of last season.
I observed some things though and I will be talking about it here.
Firstly, these boys are tired and it showed clearly that we are not ready to be competing on four fronts right now. Liverpool had a plan, they know better than anyone how hard it is to be competing on four fronts. They took the game to United and pressed aggressively throughout the pitch.
Secondly, the way we start games should improve. I mean, I had a feeling we were going to lose after the first 20 minutes and it bl**dy happened and United were playing like they were the ones having a bad season and Liverpool were in their best form. They clearly have inferiority complex or something when it comes to Liverpool
Thirdly, this is a reminder to the boys and Ten Hag that this is the Premier league, United have been winning ugly recently, they should start the next step – winning convincingly. Also, I think ETH has kinda been arrogant/over-confident lately, I loved him when he was mysterious and didn’t say much but he now talks too much…. My opinion tho.
PS: Don’t expect much from United’s next game, their confidence just took a huge stabbing
Joe Praise
Carrick > Ten Hag
“The first half was Ten Hag’s United, while the second half was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick’s iteration.”
Sorry, did Ole not finish second ahead of Liverpool in his last full season? Come back to me, Ten Hag, when you get back to back top three finishes.
David, Atlanta (still think Carrick was the better bet)
Quad talk
Man United fans this season:
“We’re back! Oh wait. Reality check”.
“Hang on, we’re REALLY back now with the best manager since…. Oh wait. Another reality check”.
“No wait, we’re DEFINITELY back this time and the ‘Quad’ is ON and, what’s that? Liverpool scored how many?”.
Oh, and from ‘Gary-totally-impartial-Neville’ (at 4 down on co-comms), “These things can happen at Anfield. There’s no reason to panic.”
At 7 nil down “They’ve been a shambles. You don’t come to Anfield as a Manchester United player and get beat 7-nil.” Martin Tyler “You do today!”
Lovely.
Oh, and United’s biggest defeat since 1931. Also, lovely.
Mark (I’m confused. Is the quad still on and will United still finish above Arsenal? Tee Heel).
Flops no more
I’m really going to miss those mails about how rubbish Gakpo and Nunez are.
Mike, LFC, London
Not getting carried away
The United fans holding on to the fact the game was close at half time aren’t delusional.
It’s entirely the same way I, as a Liverpool fan, hold on to the fact that LFC were no worse than Real in the first half of the first leg in the champions league, and the overall xG for the game was Liverpool (2.09) 2-5 (1.66) Real Madrid.
that myopia isn’t folly. it’s built on years of hoping for miracles. In a one off game, anything can happen. Djimi Traore can win the European Cup. Can a team that rightfully goes two nil up against Real not be within a shout of winning 3:0 in Madrid and then through via pens? Not least if VVD is returning to form, Konate is back, and Fabinho no longer plays as if intoxicated.
So I’m not gonna laugh at Mancs ‘yeah but…’ing their way to silliness today because I’ll be doing the same later this month. As should we all, because taking this daft game too seriously is the root of all VAR bollocks and nonsense.
Where it does get delusional is when you, at full time, come out with half the guff G Nev does. How sad it is to see someone who tried to build a reputation on technical analysis so quickly get pulled into the petty bickering banter brigade that Sky enforce on us as entertainment. Best to return to Pat Nevin, who did the shtick first, better, and as has been proved, can do it for longer. Shame he just doesn’t have the cache to get a plum prime time show on Sky
Tom G
…Wow. Just wow. I thought it’d be pretty close and Anfield would rise itself to the occasion, but that United would win. They’ve been really good for the vast majority of the season and we….haven’t.
It was an insane day, a wonderful day, a magnificent day , a pinch-me-am-I-dreaming-well-I-don’t-want-to-wake-up-if-I-am-day. Our front three had worldly afternoons and Mo in particular became our top ever Premier League striker, which is a fantastic achievement. Of course there are those Liverpool players who scored many more league goals, but they were before 1992. However, the important thing is that it was an astonishing day that all our fans will remember, without exaggeration, for decades to come.
And yet. We were terrific but Man U were bloody awful. And Fernandes in particular was an absolute disgrace. So many mistakes prior to our goals from so many players but his petulance and cheating were appalling. I’ve not exactly loved the great United captains – they were absolute pains in the arse – but not once would you have caught them playing like this. Without wanting to dissolve in a pit of toxic masculinity – they played like men and he played like a spoilt baby. I wouldn’t so much as follow him down to the shop – even if he was offering a free chocolate bar. He can’t be the long term captain, he just can’t. Casemiro on the other hand, that works – quiet game though he had.
We have had so many false dawns this season, so many times we’ve said ‘ yeah, that was good – but we need to push on from here.’ And then we’ve put the car into reverse gear and gone back downhill. This needs to inspire us to a Champions League place, which we’re inexplicably close to anyway, even with the season we’ve had.
But mostly let’s just really enjoy the day without using it as a sign to predict the future – ‘ We’re back’ ‘ Klopp is reborn ‘ – that kind of thing. It was a freak, mind-blowing goal feast. a kind of 90 minute birthday party of joy. Unless you were United of course, who probably didn’t have the appetite for birthday cake afterwards.
And this doesn’t negate all the amazing things that ETH has done already. It just shows they’re not there yet and their slightly remote title challenge is over. They still need a striker and most blatantly, a new captain.
The old vidiprinter used to spell these results out for those fans too young to remember it. Liverpool 7 ( SEVEN ) Manchester United 0.
I’m not going to get bored re-watching the highlights anytime soon.
James, Liverpool
…This season may be relatively awful for us, but that result is unlikely to be repeated in my lifetime. The gods of football can be funny sometimes.
Aidan, Lfc (slagged off Nunez’ top-knot without realising I was beside a top-knotted Utd fan. Still have my nose…lucky day)
Steady on
At the risk of sounding like sour grapes at the shocking result my team endured today, how childish for Matthew Stead to put his first of 16 conclusions as ‘haha.’
I know football is tribal, reactionary and in this modern era, all about the next meme or joke, but seriously spare a thought for the fans on the end of this barrage, who had to sit there an watch what happened today and then receive god k led how many messages from rival fans and then read that on your website.
PP
On to the next one
Recently Liverpool had had many similar attacks and goalkeepers bloopers yet they all fell butter side down. This was when almost everything fell butter side up. And United could claim 3 good chances at nil – nil. Whatever Fabinho took I want some.
Once again please in Madrid.
Peter (anyone bet on a seven- nil ? 150,000 to 1) Andalucia.
Hindsight XI
Called that one, lads.
Nick Glover, Scouser in Brum
That aged well
Fred …. Really ?
F365. The very definition of short term knee jerk.
That is all.
Ade ( don’t rule out 7)
Official thrashing
Saw a ManU fan in the Mailbox after the comical uncalled offside on Rashford in the City game unironically (I think) ask “how long has it been since we got a decision in our favor?”
Fast-forward to this game, and I just watched Fernandes pull Salah back by the shirt at the edge of the box (no call), then get pissy when TAA tossed the ball at him after it went out of play. He proceeded to yell at the linesman, then literally hit the linesman—with his hand, mind you, not like he “accidentally” ran into him—while running past: no call. Shortly thereafter, Salah got a yellow card for removing his shirt after scoring Pool’s 14th(ish) goal. So I guess that’s that man’s question answered, then.
Three final notes. First of all, and this goes without saying: Fernandes is an odious tw*t.
Second: I wrote a long and unpublished email a few weeks ago about the importance of offering on-field referees more protection from players. A linesman literally got struck by a player today with absolutely nothing done about it (at the time; there may be some kind of retroactive punishment). So just pretend I sent that email again.
Third: As someone who has no great love for Liverpool but thoroughly dislikes this ManU team (except for Rashford), Jesus was that fun to watch.
Ryan, AFC
Sunday’s biggest shock
Of all the permutations and possible outcomes that were talked about before the game this afternoon, I think it’s fair to say that absolutely nobody saw that coming.
Two goals away from home! I need to sit down
Aidan, EFC, Clerkenwell (still getting relegated)
Good week, bad week
That was one of the strangest weeks of football ever and one in which it was hard not to feel some level of empathy for our most hated rivals. First up, you have Spurs whose owners appear to want to prioritise top four above actually winning silverware abjectly surrendering their place in the world’s oldest football competition in the process.
Then you have the Chelsea fans who don’t know how to feel after finally winning a game of football on their fan channels. And then there was United, with the most catacylismic capitulation in their history.
I’m sure all three sets of fans have a had a go at Arsenal for seeing top four as a trophy, for our own fan channel and for losing 8-2 at Old Trafford.
Sucks being on the other end of it doesn’t it?
And to top it all off – we take three points in the most dramatic circumstances imaginable, win the league cup without Viv and Beth and Stewie had to bin the email he had in drafts that was ready to go.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London
Tottenham take top four over trophies
So, various results over the last few days feel like they have helped conflicting thoughts coalesce into a definitive opinion; this week I watched my beloved Spurs bow out of the FA Cup in midweek, a game in which i feel we should have named an unchanged 11 for the sake of momentum if not a shot at the cup, but, I’m not necessarily bothered we didn’t if the aim was to rest our best 11 for Wolves, and thus increase our chances of Champions League football next season. Okay, so we didn’t win, thus negating any intent to sacrifice a cup performance for a league one, but in all honesty I think it was just one of those days- for an hour we were all over them and on another day those chances that hit the woodwork seal the points, and, at least we didn’t get spanked 7-0 by our (arguably) biggest rivals in the week in which we also won the least important of all four trophies we could have won. So, out of curiosity, would ManYoo fans swap todays defeat for a win at the expense of the League Cup? I ask, as I think this week I have finally found the best way to summarise my priorities for my club- I would rather us finish in the top 4 than win the league or FA cup. I would rather watch us play Real Madrid on a Wednesday than Ludogerets on a Thursday. Why do I care if we win a trophy I do not get a medal for? I want to watch us play in the biggest games- I remember beating Ajax, Madrid, Dortmund, Milan, Inter etc all far more fondly than I do us beating Leicester and Chelsea in the two league cup wins of my lifetime. There, I’ve said it, I might as well change my name to Arsene….
Jerome, Bristol Spur