16 Conclusions from Man Utd 3-2 Liverpool: Carrick, Slot, Wirtz, Mainoo and Van Dijk

Michael Carrick’s being a real pain for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Liverpool are now very much (far too much) Arne Slot’s Liverpool.

Virgil van Dijk was one of several Liverpool players to endure a horror first half before Casemiro showed why it is indeed time for him to leave Old Trafford with love in the second.

16 Conclusions on a game of two halves.

1) The jeopardy in this game was almost entirely surrounding what it might mean for the future of the two managers. An unconvincing 3-2 win for Manchester United has only exacerbated the problems facing Sir Jim Ratcliffe and whoever has the final say on Arne Slot’s future at Anfield.

2) The lack of intensity from Liverpool compared to the hosts in the first half, and – perhaps more significantly for Slot – from a Jurgen Klopp side rocking up at Old Trafford, was extraordinary.

“I loved playing teams that are easy to counter-attack and there’s nothing worse than your team becoming that,” Carragher said as he reflected on that first-half display.

“The longer a manager is in situ the more we see their style. Too often we’ve seen this type of performance – soft and weak.”

We’re endlessly told by reporters with an ear to the ground on Merseyside that Slot’s job is secure no matter what happens from here on out, but the frustrations of restless Liverpool fans will peak after this game.

“Find me one,” Carragher mumbled as Peter Drury suggested “Liverpool optimists” might point to injuries as a caveat for the first-half display.

The problem for Reds fans won’t be this defeat or the ten others in the Premier League but the doubts it continues to raise as to whether what is a horribly cumbersome style of football will ever reap serious reward now that it’s been properly embedded after Slot tweaked rather than changed the tactics to win the league last season.

READ MORE: Man Utd win but Liverpool meltdown should end Michael Carrick’s hopes

3) Only Wolves (2) have scored fewer first-half away goals in the Premier League than Liverpool (5) this season and Curtis Jones ensured Arne Slot’s side wouldn’t improve on that harrowing record with a throw-in in the fourth minute, at least in the mind of a perplexed Jamie Carragher on commentary.

“What is he doing?!” Carragher said at his most Scouse in a bid to reinforce the bemusement as Jones threw the ball back down the line towards his own goal from a spot in the Manchester United half that your Brentfords and Crystal Palaces would have been hurling it into the box from.

Two minutes later, having failed to get out of their own half, Liverpool were a goal down.

4) United “smelled blood” and went for Liverpool. Having been forced back into their own box by Brentford in what turned out to be one of their more fortunate wins under Carrick, they started on the front foot and stayed on it in the first half.

Liverpool had the ball but United had all the momentum, poised to break at any given opportunity, as they’ve excelled at throughout this spell under Carrick, but also – crucially and contrastingly – looking to pen a horribly fragile Reds side into their own box when they got there.

5) After his man-of-the-match display in the 3-1 win over Crystal Palace, it was plain to see here why this was only Freddie Woodman’s seventh Premier League game.

He could maybe have got more of a hand to Bruno Fernandes’ header back across for Benjamin Sesko’s goal and he looked a bit ungainly as he scrambled without getting near Matheus Cunha’s bobbling shot to score, but as a goalkeeper of old his major problem isn’t with shot-stopping or commanding his area but with the requirement to play football.

After one horribly scuffed pass straight to Bryan Mbeumo with no clear target in sight in the fourth minute, which led to the first of what became a common Old Trafford bed-sh*tting from the Liverpool defence, Woodman and – more notably – his Liverpool teammates, lost all confidence when he had the ball at his feet.

At one point, when cornered by two United players but with a clear pass to Woodman available, Curtis Jones tried a Hollywood lofted ball into midfield that was cut out and led to a Red Devils corner. By the second half Liverpool had taken Woodman’s footballing ability completely out of the equation, not only refusing to pass back to him but not giving him the opportunity to mess up a five-yard pass from a goal kick.

6) It was something of a surprise that Andy Robertson emerged after the break following what an aghast Roy Keane described as a “dreadful” display, mainly “in defence”, where he was conspicuous by his absence most of the time and a detriment to his team when he was present, but also “in attack”, we assume in reference to his one foray down the left when he very nearly tripped over his own feet to cede possession.

It was Bryan Mbeumo causing him problems but it could have been quite literally anyone bringing the Liverpool legend’s long farewell to what may well now be a premature end. He wasn’t chasing shadows so much as existing in the place a shadow had been three or four seconds before.

Diogo Dalot passed the ball in behind him for Mbeumo in the phase of play before United’s opener, which saw Robertson assist Cunha bang in the centre of goal on the edge of the box with one of the worst front-post headers you’re ever likely to see. The Brazilian needed two bites at the cherry and hit neither shot sweetly as he scored via a deflection.

7) Robertson wasn’t helped by the formerly soothing presence alongside him, who might be wise to act on Wayne Rooney’s warning this week after again being exposed as a liability in a season of decline.

“I said this since the start of the season, age gets to us all and your legs go,” Rooney said.

“I think that’s happened to Mohamed Salah this season and Virgil van Dijk hasn’t been the same this season. They are the leaders in the dressing room. It’s hard for the other players to go and leave their mark or become the leaders.

“I don’t think he [Van Dijk] will [leave] but you’ve seen players when they’ve stayed there for too long.”

Liverpool never recovered from a particularly comical swinger of a leg before Cunha’s opener and he was all over the place for the second. Fernandes ambled in behind him to fire in a cross for Sesko, and after Van Dijk jogged back into position he was on his heels as the United striker nipped in head of him to score.

The composure which has typified his outstanding Reds career and means he’s quite rightly hailed as one of the best centre-back’s in Premier League history had Jamie Carragher suggesting top level football was “almost too easy” for him just over a year ago as he imperiously drove Liverpool to the title.

Now that serenity makes it look as though he doesn’t care such is the frequency of the casual mistakes and lack of urgency to make up for them. At the start of the second half he barely got off the ground from a Senne Lammens hoof down field to very nearly assist Mbeumo running in behind him.

If it wasn’t for the exodus of experience around him, we would be advising Van Dijk to leave the football before the football leaves him.

8) “It’s certainly not conclusive enough to rule it out” was Gary Neville’s partisan analysis of Sesko’s goal after images which didn’t really need to be blown up to show the striker handling the ball into the net displayed his fingers splaying and the ball being propelled – albeit slightly – past Freddie Woodman.

‘It is an offence if a player scores in the opponents’ goal immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm’ the handball rule reads. ‘Clear’? Yes. ‘Obvious’? Yes.

9) Ask a Manchester United player for their opinion on Ayden Heaven and they will smile and shake their head in reference to his mischievous off-field antics.

“But he switches,” Bruno Fernandes told Rio Ferdinand last month. “As soon as he gets on the pitch he looks like an old man – he has a serious face.”

And he’s a serious footballer. He won both of his aerial duels, five from five on the ground and looks comfortable with the ball at his feet, passing through tight spaces and dribbling into midfield.

He’s now clear of £60m Leny Yoro in the Old Trafford pecking order and it’s by no means assured that Lisandro Martinez will come back into the starting lineup a he nears a return to fitness.

Thomas Tuchel has seen what Heaven can do after he trained with the England senior squad during the last international break. A late call-up isn’t beyond the realms of possibility for a very impressive young defender.

10) Victory over Liverpool is far from the excuse Ratcliffe needed not to appoint Carrick, but the way in which one errant pass from Amad Diallo at the start of the second half saw the home side lose all sense of positioning and sense in general offers ammo for the the Carrick deniers.

It was a great run and finish from Szoboszlai, but Harry Maguire won’t want to see what is an uncommon but always possible unwieldy moment back again as he just about had the Liverpool midfielder in view as he passed the ball through Diogo Dalot’s legs having attempted to find him over his opposite shoulder.

While at least one of Kobbie Mainoo or Casemiro – often both – sat behind the ball in the first half, both were frequently caught ahead of it as United chased a goal they didn’t need in the second. It was United giving the ball away to prompt Liverpool counter-attacks in a complete switch from the opening 45 minutes. It was their goalkeeper that made the blunder that was in the post for Woodman.

It’s just not on for Lammens. Mac Allister did well and the three touches from him, Szoboszlai and Gakpo to rondo around the United ‘keeper were all spot on. But why do it? We’re not advocating a hoof down field, just for him to wait for a clearer option to appear.

A really daft moment in an otherwise quite brilliant and assured season for the Belgian, who made a crucial save to stop United going behind after some pinball in the box following a brilliant Szoboslzai cross shortly before Mainoo’s winner.

Anyone looking to counter suggestions that Ratcliffe now has no option but to hand Carrick a new contract can lead on that second half display turning what should have been a comprehensive victory over their arch rivals into the latest of many unconvincing wins.

11) Neither Casemiro nor Manchester United should be tempted into spoiling the perfect goodbye after a game to illustrate just why he will leave the club with the adoration of the fans but also one to show just how damaging his presence can be.

No player on the pitch got close to his 18 defensive contributions, but no player got close to being dribbled past more than his five times. After United went 3-2 up the Brazilian was almost laughing at his inability to get back having pressed far too high entirely unnecessarily to grant space for a Liverpool counter-attack.

Mainoo was getting caught too, perhaps more because his teammate was running on fumes rather than his own lack of game management, but responded to Roy Keane’s call for “more from him” before kick-off with his first Premier League goal for nearly two years as he took advantage of sleeping substitute Rio Ngumoha to win the game for United and further expose how ludicrous it was for Ruben Amorim not to fancy him.

We’re not sure any finish can be typical of a footballer who’s scored eight senior goals, but a controlled, side-foot half volley from the edge of the box under pressure feels very Mainoo.

12) Mac Allister’s attempted clearance for Mainoo’s goal was pathetic; one instance of many in this game and throughout this season where it looks as though the midfielder is permanently at the point of exhaustion when attempting interventions or key passes.

He also gave the ball away in the build-up for Sesko’s goal and aside from a smart first-time pass to Szoboszlai after reading Senne Lammens’ horror pass for Liverpool’s equaliser the notable contributions were negative from a footballer Liverpool would do well to get a decent wedge for at the end of the season.

13) At least he was notable though, in another game which happened around and not especially near Florian Wirtz.

The German plays like he’s a Liverpool pariah; an outcast who would rather not be there and whom his teammates would rather wasn’t. Occasions he receives the ball aren’t met with anticipation as to what magic he might produce with what is his evident quality, but serve as reminders that he’s still playing as he does so little to affect the game.

This wasn’t one of Fernandes’ better displays in an outstanding campaign for the Manchester United captain, but he very nearly got an assist for Sesko’s goal to go level with Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne on 20 in a season and could easily have got a couple more as Casemiro aimed an uncharacteristically weak header from a brilliant deep cross straight at Woodman and Mbeumo shot over from a pinpoint pull-back.

Some of the difference in contributions between Wirtz and Fernandes is down to the quality around them. Sesko, Mbeumo and Cunha have been far superior to whichever forwards have played for Liverpool this season; Jeremie Frimpong and Cody Gakpo were never going to offer brilliant options for Wirtz on Sunday.

But it’s personality rather than quality that’s arguably the standout difference between the two playmakers. Wirtz was never going to take this game by the scruff of the neck; Fernandes was always likely to.

14) A moment of silence if you please for us all being denied the goal of the season we admittedly weren’t all that close to as it was offside and Mbeumo didn’t actually score with his flick as it hit the bottom of the post.

But we owe our thanks to Casemiro for his first-time long ball over the top, to Fernandes for his absurd over-the-shoulder touch to kill the ball and to Mbeumo for his cheeky attempt for a non-goal we will be replaying on a loop in our minds for at least the next week.

15) The view of Carragher and Manchester United fans (or at least the Sky Sports Fanalysists) is that Carrick should now be given the permanent reins. Ten wins from 14 Premier League games including victories over all other members of the Big Six and Aston Villa to secure a return to the Champions League makes his a very, very strong claim.

Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe will make the ultimate call and isn’t convinced by Carrick’s personality as he’s normally ‘drawn to alpha characters’.

No European football this season and being knocked out of the cup competitions early has allowed United players more rest than their Premier League rivals and granted Carrick more time to work on tactics and philosophy on the training ground, arguably to no great avail.

Questions have been raised as to just how much Carrick has changed aside from reverting 4-2-3-1, bringing Mainoo back into the fold and playing Fernandes in his preferred position.

But the outstanding form which has seen United pick up 32 points in 14 games under Carrick – more than any other Premier League team in his time at the helm – has given Ratcliffe a huge problem and makes appointing an alternative a massive risk for someone whose reign so far has featured far more mistakes than positive steps to turn the club back into a serious force of football.

16) Carragher reached a pitch reserved chiefly for canines when Neville claimed United are better placed than Liverpool to achieve success next season and beyond, urging his fellow pundit after the game not to be “kidded” by this performance and this season in general from United on the basis of their lack of football aside from Premier League commitments.

But there’s comfort in the unknown for United fans. They can’t know how Carrick will cope with the pressure of a permanent role, more football and a hand in the continued rebuild of the football club. Most will accept that theirs is something of a false position in the Premier League and that there’s little chance of such outstanding form being carried into next season and beyond. But there’s hope and it’s exciting.

Liverpool don’t have much to hang their hat on. New signings are still flopping, the football is as bad as it’s been all season and the greatest concern will be that this is now just who they are and will continue to be under Slot if he remains beyond the end of the season.