UpdatedAugust 22, 2022, 11:19 PM
FootballManchester United revive once morest Liverpool
The Mancunians won their first victory of the season once morest the “Reds” on Monday in the Premier League.
Marcus Rashford tricked Alisson Becker to score Mancunian’s second goal.
AFP
In a busy sporting and extra-sporting context, Manchester United won its first victory of the season (2-1) once morest the outgoing vice-champion, Liverpool, still at a standstill, Monday, at the end of the 3rd day of English Championship.
These first three points allow the Mancunians to move up to 14th place, two places ahead of the Reds who have only 2 points in 3 matches, already 7 less than the leader Arsenal and their perfect course.
They will also lighten a heavy context with the supporters who once once more demonstrated en massebefore the match, once morest the American owners of “ManU”, the Glazer family, whom they hope will see the club cede.
This success will above all facilitate the work of Erik ten Hag whose strong choices – leaving Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench at kick-off – were validated by a generous and involved performance from his players, if not to be totally convincing.
Soon with Casemiro
Lisandro Martinez, established in the axis alongside Raphaël Varane, has completely justified the confidence of his former coach at Ajax. The upcoming addition in midfield of Brazilian international Casemiro, presented to the public before the match, offers interesting prospects for giving more stability to the whole.
If we must not forget that it was a Liverpool very weakened by injuries who presented themselves at Old Trafford, a statistic gives a sacred relief to this victory: the Reds had not lost in the Premier League since the beginning of 2022 .
The first 20 minutes of the match were particularly impressive from Manchester United who put determination into the duels, movement and speed that we had not seen all last season.
Sancho’s composure
Offensively, the tactic was clear: attack the right defensive side of the opponent and a Trent Alexander-Arnold who had a real ordeal once morest Anthony Elanga.
After finding the post in the 9th minute, the Swedish winger, coming out of a one-two with Christian Eriksen, found Jadon Sancho in the back who, full of composure, concluded with a flat foot at the following a superb feint which James Milner and goalkeeper Alisson bit into (1-0, 16th).
The end of the first act was physically complicated for Manchester, who had given a lot and Bruno Fernandes was on the verge of scoring once morest his camp on a corner, finally cleared by Martinez (41st).
Liverpool in doubt
But the Red Devils had the rich idea of widening the gap following returning from the locker room. Anthony Martial, entered at the break, launched on the edge of offside Marcus Rashford, who won his duel once morest Alisson (2-0, 53rd).
Without a nice save from the Brazilian on a new attempt from Rashford (56th), the Red Devils might have had a quiet end to the match, but it was on the contrary Mohamed Salah who put tension back in the match, with a header, eight minutes from the end of regulation time (2-1).
Too late for Jürgen Klopp’s men, who come back empty-handed from this trip and see their title ambitions already a little tarnished.
If Manchester United is still far from being a contender for the coronation, the top 4 suddenly no longer seems a totally unrealistic objective, even if the competition promises to be fierce.
(AFP)
