That concludes the blog for now. Further quotes and reaction to follow in these pages.
Virgil van Dijk had his say, too:
“We should have been 2-0 up at least. We had them under control. It definitely feels like a loss at this point. Because we were wasteful in our chances we gave them a lifeline. Unfortunately individual mistakes can happen in a game but there was still so much time to put it right. But we were in a rush, losing too many balls in challenges in midfield.
“One hundred per cent (it was self-inflicted). It feels like the cup game again. In the first half we were much better than we played back then, we created chances and we limited them but obviously we know that one moment can change the game if you don’t finish it off and that’s the disappointing part.
“We should have won it today but the reality is that we didn’t and we have to make it up in the other games that come.”
Jurgen Klopp spoke to Sky, too: “We should have won the game, that is clear. We should have had other goals in the first half already. No shots in the first half and 1-0 is the lowest we could expect. Really well done from Bruno. Then the stadium is coming and we needed a few minutes to settle again and they scored another screamer. We had big chances before and after they scored. As far as I’m concerned, we have a point more than we did before. They put an extra shift in, that’s how it is. We will face that again against Everton. Fully deserved equaliser.
“I’m not angry at all with the boys but in the game I’m not just going to let things happen. We dropped too deep. There were plenty of situations where we could have defended the ball. You need to be proactive.
“We play now at home against Atalanta, difficult game but at home and then another. We don’t have many home games left. The team who wins the league in the end should deserve it. We are in the race and I’m absolutely fine with it.”
Kobbie Mainoo spoke to Sky Sports: “Disappointed to be honest. I think we performed really well in the second half. The lads made minor mistakes and if we iron them out then we win the game.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to score my first Old Trafford goal and to do it in this fixture was even more special. We didn’t get the three points and that’s the main thing. Mistakes happen in games and they can be detremental. It’s tough and it takes it out of you.
“Again, details that we’ve missed. I have my own jobs in the team but the flick on got to him in space.”
Jamie Carragher, who sounded pained in the Sky commentary box as the second half progressed, had this to say at full-time:
Liverpool have only got themselves to blame. Same as in the FA Cup tie, not clinical enough when it mattered. Should have put Manchester United to bed, so this is definitely two points dropped.
Here’s Jamie Jackson’s report from Old Trafford.
David Wall, another United fan: “Sure, United aren’t very good, but a season where you knock Liverpool out of the cup and do as much as anyone to scupper their title challenge has a certain satisfaction to it nonetheless.”
Andy Flintoff gets in touch: “This is what’s so frustrating about United - they can fight like terriers in matches against the top teams, but meekly go through the motions against other teams. The question we need to ask is, can Ten Hag really motivate this squad?”
Seven games to go, and it’s tight, so tight.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 31 | 51 | 71 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 31 | 42 | 71 |
| 3 | Man City | 31 | 40 | 70 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 32 | 17 | 60 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 30 | 18 | 57 |
Final score: Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp is out and shaking hands, a broad smile for Casemiro but his players look gutted, disappointed. What a game that was. Liverpool let that slip, they know that. But they had to come back into it despite being the far superior team. United scored two brilliant goals and defended with determination if nothing like organisation. Arsenal stay top, and do so after a game that often defied belief and sense.
90+8 min: It’s taken, and drops to Elliott, but he can’t beat Onana. That’s it, 2-2, what a strange trip it’s been.
90+7 min: Hojlund, sets up Antony, and the shot is straight at Kelleher. Diaz, as United lose the ball after that, keeps the ball in play, and Casemiro comes in for another yellow card to stop him. Liverpool have a free-kick to win it.
90+5 min: Bruno Fernandes has chance to release Hojlund, but doesn’t beat the first man. Jones is fouled by Amrabat, and then Gomez blams the free-kick, aimed for Diaz, out of play. Nerves aplenty.
90+4 min: It’s all Liverpool again. And they attempt the patient move from which they got their penalty. The ball is lofted, Robertson hauls Antony down and Diaz smashes over. Had that gone in, VAR would surely have ruled it out. Though who knows?
90+3 min: United take an age over a throw-in, lose the ball and Mount has to commit a yellow-card offence.
Updated
90+1 min: Jurgen Klopp paces and paces, wearing the pressure all so obviously. No wonder he wants a rest; his team have put him through it.
90 min: Bruno, again, is the man making the last-ditch tackle after Casemiro’s kick clear travelled no distance at all. Seven minutes added on.
89 min: Salah clean away? No, Bruno Fernandes makes a last-man tackle. Where were his defenders?
88 min: It’s Liverpool’s fans who can be heard. The Old Trafford air is filled with rancour, and some bile, too. United can’t get any grip of midfield but then Salah loses the ball. Jones commits a tactical foul on Amrabat, and gets a yellow.
86 min: Liverpool continue their hunt for a goal. The ball is aimed at Diaz, who slips off down the gap between the pitch and the stands. Dalot, too. Both get up, gingerly.
85 min: Wan-Bissaka’s lack of discipline was very United 2024, though Liverpool had been pushing and pushing. Mason Mount comes on, Mainoo departing the scene. Mount’s introduction at Stamford Bridge was fateful.;
Goal! Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool (Salah, pen 84)
The main man takes his time to settle the ball, but send Onana the wrong way and rushes to the net to collect it. Only half the job is done.
Updated
Penalty to Liverpool!
Elliott has been impressive since coming on, and tempts Wan-Bissaka to go to ground. It’s a stonewall penalty, no complaints there. VAR takes little time.
Updated
81 min: All Liverpool now, all United defending. The next ten minutes or so drip with destiny.
80 min: On comes Ambrabat for Garnacho, to shore up midfield. Good luck with that on Amrabat’s showings so far for United. Onana is booked for yet more dallying with the ball.
79 min: More Liverpool chances. Diaz turns and shoots, Onana parries and Salah lifts the rebound over.
78 min: United back in heavy numbers but how orderly are they? Liverpool pushing and probing. Kambwala heads away; he’s had a fine game, calm in the eye of the storm.
77 min: We approach the part of the game where Liverpool score and United concede. Gomez’s shot is deflected into the path of Onana, who saves with some relief and then dallies, to the annoyance of the away contingent.
75 min: Jeers from the home fans as Liverpool overplay, and Elliot lets the ball run out.
73 min: Liverpool look just as ragged and Klopp is losing his cool as Kambwala slides in to tackle Gomez. Klopp wanted a red rather than the yellow the teenager received.
Updated
72 min: Kelleher clears the ball with his fist, and eventually Liverpool can go again. They’ve gone 4-4-2, with Gakpo to flick on for Salah.
71 min: There’s a stramash in the centre of the field as Hojlund is robbed. And fouled. United fancy this, Garnacho forcing a corner off Gomez.
69 min: It turns out that Nunez neither exploded nor scored. It was left to Klopp to explode. Understandable, this game would drive anyone to insanity.
68 min: Jurgen Klopp is absolutely raging by the way. Van Dijk and Quansah are at each other. Two more Liverpool subs: Elliot and Gakpo on, off come Endo and Nunez.
Goal! Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool (Mainoo, 67)
All his own work. Mainoo could have passed the ball out to the right, but instead plays it to Garnacho, and collects the ball, spins and smashes it with his right, and in.
Updated
66 min: Subs imminent from both teams? Rashford is down, and that looks to be it for him. Antony will come on for him. Liverpool will bring on Curtis Jones for Szoboszlai, and Joe Gomez replaces Conor Bradley, who was on a booking. Szoboszlai’s passing had been increasingly sloppy.
63 min: Garnacho, quiet so far, sets up Bruno for a diving header. And soon enough Liverpool go down the other end, and United somehow smuggle the ball away. This resembles a game of sevens rugby, the ball speeding from end to end.
62 min: Nunez is haring around chaotically, and could either a) explode or b) score.
C) Both are possibilities, too.
Updated
60 min: Kobbie Mainoo is down, having made one of the many blocks being asked of United players. He gets up eventually, and then Rashford is offside from a free-kick.
59 min: Dalot’s buccaneering run sets up a quick United attack, and Rashford’s ball into the box is asking to be hit. Kelleher claims with some relief.
57 min: United can’t get the ball clear. Great response from Livepool. Salah is crowded out as United defenders swarm. On the sidelines, Klopp is getting antsy.
56 min: Liverpool trying to step it back up, and Wan-Bissaka has to head behind. Casemiro clears the resultant corner.
55 min: Liverpool miss. Oh my. Oh my. They have five on two, and Dias plays in Nunez, who can just lay up Szoboszlai or indeed score. He does neither.
54 min: Maguire almost gets to the corner, and then Casemiro lunges in and Kelleher hot potatoes the ball away.
Updated
53 min: Long, long way to go now. Mainoo escapes, and sets up an attack from which Garnacho forces a corner. United are alive and kicking.
51 min: Football, ruddy bloody hell. Liverpool conceded because United were putting no pressure on at all and got sloppy. What a finish by the way.
Goal! Liverpool 1-1 Manchester United (Bruno Fernandes, 50)
Oh my, oh my. Quansah, under no pressure, plays the ball square to Fernandes and the United captain sees Kelleher off his line and scores from fully 45 yards. What a goal, what a mistake.
Updated
50 min: Wan-Bissaka clatters away a Diaz pass. United just can’t keep the ball. It’s as if they don’t want it…
48 min: Harry Maguire as asked to make a double block from Nunez and Rashford escapes away down the other end, only for Quansah to read the danger well. Rashford might have been better served to look up. “Scanning”, I believe they call it now.
47 min: Pete’s back in touch: “We were better under Ole. Time to move on now. Get Ashworth & Wilcox done and figure out who the coach is going to be cos this is rotten.”
Things did go bad under Ole, especially for Ole.
46 min: We are back underway. The big news from half-time is that Big Sam Allardyce could be seen talking to Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Little Sir Dave Brailsford. “POMO” to be part of the Ineos masterplan.
On the pitch, Liverpool set off on the attack.
Updated
Gary Byrne gets in touch: “While Liverpool’s multitude of misses may be infuriating, the thoughts of Pep on his sofa supporting Man Utd soothes the soul.”
There are lies, damned lies and damning statistics.
There's work to do for the hosts 👀
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 7, 2024
It's the first time Man Utd have failed to record a single shot in the first half of a Premier League game since April 2022, also against Liverpool. #MUNLIV #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/Yqm5C9fZ2m
Half-time: Manchester United 0-1 Liverpool
How are Liverpool not leading 5-0? How are United still in it? Did Erik ten Hag’s coaching handbook have the “setting up midfield” pages missing? The longer it stays this way, the more nervous Liverpool might get. But then again, if they keep creating chances like this, a second will surely result.
45+2 min: Two minutes are added on. The ball’s been in play almost continually. Conor Bradley is given a chance to shoot but Wan Bissaka clears. And that’s it.
45 min: Bruno Fernandes’s pressing has not been of the highest grade, let’s say that. United’s three midfielders operating as satellites of each other. Older United fans will yearn for the days when Phil Neville and Nicky Butt anchored midfield in the absence of Keane and Scholes.
Updated
44 min: Salah cuts in from his flank, and Onana is alert enough to stop Nunez. It could be 4-0 quite easily, perhaps more.
42 min: Yep, United sprung again. Nunez’s flick finding Diaz after Rashford is turned, and another corner results. Szoboszlai’s corner is cleared rather easily this time.
40 min: The TV discourse is that Mainoo is too far ahead of the ball at throw-ins, and leaving Casemiro exposed, and creating that great big gap amid which Liverpool are running time and again.
Luis Diaz is down after a Kambwala tackle. There’s a long delay. And little sympathy from the home fans. His return to fitness receives plenty of boos.
38 min: Dechlan Brennan gets in touch: “Liverpool wasted many a chance in the fa cup tie a month ago and were left to rue it. Does lightning strike twice?”
36 min: Another Liverpool shot, another Salah miss. Great combination play sees Salah released by Szoboszlai. A swing and miss, and it flies over. United are relying on Liverpool to miss chances to stay in the game.
35 min: Paul Fitzgerald gets in touch: “Great recovery pace from Kambwala, but as is the performative gestering that this team loves doing, he might save it for when his team are winning/or playing well.”
34 min: Salah is set free after Mainoo loses possession, Diaz’s ball finds the senior hitman in space, and he gives Onana the chance to make a save. From the corner, Onana makes a save that can politely said to be for the cameras. The ball eventually comes out and Nunez crashes a shot wide. United, as ever, are allowing shot after shot after shot.
Updated
32 min: After 30 minutes of breathless stuff, an actual lull. “Scouser Tommy” can be heard from the Liverpool fans. Their team is going to the top of the league if it stays this way.
30 min: Within seconds, Nunez has the beating of Kambwala, only for the teenager to slide in and stop the attack. He turns to the Stretford End and asks for more noise. When did defenders start celebrating tackles? It’s your job, to channel Roy Keane.
29 min: Garnarcho and Nunez go at each other, and the Uruguayan comes off worst, the Argentinian’s downward motion results in pain.
27 min: United get a free-kick, and go close to scoring. Fernandes chips in, Casemiro gets to it, and Hojlund leaps to the floor in the style of Phil Jones a decade ago or so. It’s ineffective, and Liverpool get it clear.
25 min: Week after week, the shots rain down on Andre Onana’s goal. This time, Robertson’s corner is cleared, and only just.
24 min: Just as Liverpool ratchet up the pressure, they score. Just as the pressure comes on United, they concede. That’s two familiar stories wrapped up in one. It was Mainoo who let Diaz escape.
Goal! Manchester United 0-1 Liverpool (Diaz, 23)
Szoboszlai’s corner comes in, United players chase Van Dijk, but it’s Nunez who gets there and Diaz volleys home.
Updated
22 min: Phil Horton: “That Liverpool kit is pure Excel spreadsheet, that’s why it’s so familiar!”
Liverpool meanwhile force a corner.
21 min: Robertson is away down the left, but his shot skids wide. The rain is torrential, even for the M16 0RA postcode.
20 min: There’s a lot of slip-sliding away, as Paul Simon would have it. Always looks satisfying, the slide tackle.
18 min: Big chance! Szoboszlai is on the end of a pass by Robertson but can’t get a decent touch on it. The Mancunian weather may have played a part in the ball’s troubled flight.
17 min: Hojlund shows his promise in speeding on to a Rashford ball, and holds it up well. It takes a bit of Van Dijk class to clear the danger. But then Szoboszlai is on the end of Harry Maguire’s agricultural challenge to clear it. Two very different pieces of defending, both effective in their own way.
15 min: John Potter: “It’s definitely not Argyle mate. We’ve had the occasional terrible kit, but nothing on that level!”
Or is it a 90s Kidderminster Harriers? Those green quadrants remind me of something.
14 min: Szoboszlai looks so lively, but is stopped this time by an alert Dalot. Liverpool are building up a head of steam here, looking much more assured than in the first ten. Their fans can be heard up in the Scoreboard End.
13 min: Joe Pearson is in touch: “Cueing up Ozric Tentacles’ ‘Strangeitude’ as my soundtrack for this match. Hope the match itself ends up just as spacey.”
So far so good. Where City v Arsenal qualifies as Kick Muck. What tantric obstacles will the winner of this game have to negotiate.
11 min: Nunez and Salah take a swing at a cross and get a corner. It’s not only United who can attack at pace. Szoboszlai meanwhile can hit them and rifles a second ball just wide.
8 min: Two attempts at this corner, the second headed away by Salah. But Onana decides to play a Stevie G Hollywood ball at Hojlund and forces Liverpool to turn back. They look a bit nerves, the Redmen in their Plymouth Argyle kits. Or is it Finn Harps?
7 min: Garnacho forces a corner, having slipped past Robertson. Conor Bradley is booked for an earlier, reckless tackle on Rashford. He’s now on sudden death, the Irishman.
Updated
6 min: Rashford is baulked as United pour forward, with Wan-Bissaka up there. United are going for this. Kambwala is up there too, and when he loses the ball away goes Nunez, who falls just as he approaches Harry Maguire. This is silly.
4 min: Bruno stopped by an Endo foul and we can all breathe. United games, bloody hell.
3 min: Mistake by Quansah, but he makes up for it by stopping Bruno getting way….suddenly Szoboszlai is away and Onana is asked to make a very fine save. Salah’s ball was a beauty. What a game so far.
2 min: United have the ball in the net…..ooof, Garnacho rounds the keeper and Andy Robertson and scores…but Bruno Fernandes had delayed the pass far too long. Offside.
Updated
1 min: Liverpool are attacking the Stretford End, and immediately look the more comfortable in possession
Away we go...
The players are out. This Is The One, as Ian Brown sang. It’s the last one as far as Jurgen Klopp visiting Old Trafford as a Liverpool manager. So here we go, here we go, this is it. Big hugs between Ten Hag and Klopp as we get underway.
Pete gets in touch: “My heart can’t cope with any more of United’s chaosball. Is even the vaguest attempt at positional discipline too much to ask for today?”
When Manchester United and Liverpool meet, the regrettable undercurrent of tragedy chanting is often a factor. Jurgen Klopp has made another call for it to stop.
Jurgen Klopp spoke to Sky: “We have to be ready to face the specific things they bring on the pitch. It’s the normal football challenges. You have to understand the occasion, we know that
“We don’t make a big fuss of anything. We don’t watch games together. Of the three teams, the other two probably expect the last one to win. We have to play the game anyway.”
Richard Hirst gets in touch: “Surely shaggy hair was more Cavalier than Roundhead? Ten Hag has more of the Roundhead look, which might point to imminent difficulties between them. Though neither of them appears to embody the classic Sellers and Yeatman summing up of the two tribes.”
BSJ looks like Richard Harris when he played Cromwell.
AA BB says: “If he fixes up his hair a bit neater and buys some decent robes, he’s The Sun King’s eminence gris. I think he’s bendy enough to be in the right ears.”
What’s at stake? The title race, after both Manchester City and Arsenal won on Saturday.
Bruno Fernandes speaks to Sky: “We play against a big team that has a lot of qualities. It’s going to be a tough, intense game. These games against Liverpool always are.”
And so does Virgil van Dijk: “We have to do better than we did in the cup. You have to shut it out completely anyway, whether we play first, second or third. Everyone knows how big this game is but we have to stay calm and play our football like we have all season.”
Last time out: Alexis Mac Allister the star man, and the night that Cole Palmer haunted the club he once supported.
Justin Kavanagh is at it: “A good chance today for Liverpool to claw back several of that 9-goal advantage that Arsenal enjoy in the goal difference column: If they can just find two more than they did at Anfield last year, they’ll be in gravy.”
Yours truly did the MBM on this one, and I confess, I fully lost count at one point.
If Liverpool’s situation is clear then United’s is getting worrisome. They’re in danger of blowing the chance to play in the Europa League, let alone Champions League.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 31 | 51 | 71 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 30 | 42 | 70 |
| 3 | Man City | 31 | 40 | 70 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 32 | 17 | 60 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 30 | 18 | 57 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 30 | -1 | 48 |
| 7 | West Ham | 32 | -4 | 48 |
| 8 | Newcastle | 31 | 13 | 47 |
| 9 | Chelsea | 29 | 3 | 43 |
| 10 | Brighton | 31 | 2 | 43 |
| 11 | Wolverhampton | 31 | -5 | 42 |
| 12 | AFC Bournemouth | 31 | -10 | 41 |
| 13 | Fulham | 32 | -4 | 39 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 31 | -18 | 30 |
| 15 | Everton | 31 | -10 | 29 |
| 16 | Brentford | 32 | -13 | 29 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 31 | -14 | 25 |
| 18 | Luton | 32 | -20 | 25 |
| 19 | Burnley | 32 | -35 | 19 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 30 | -52 | 15 |
Two changes for United after the Chelsea game amid their defensive crisis, with Willy Kambwala, coming in for the injured Raphael Varane. Jonny Evans is also injured. Marcus Rashford replaces Antony.
Three changes for Liverpool after beating Sheffield United in midweek, and they make for a very strong team: Jarell Quansah, Andy Robertson and Wataru Endo in, with Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch going out.
The teams
Manchester United: Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Kambwala, Dalot; Casemiro, Mainoo; Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund. Subs: Bayindir, Amrabat, Mount, Eriksen, Diallo, Antony, Forson, Amass, Ogunneye.
Liverpool: Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Endo; Salah, Nunez, Diaz. Subs: Adrián, Gomez, Konaté, Jones, Gakpo, Elliott, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Danns.
Big Sir Jim is already at Old Trafford. Was discussing with colleagues what BSJ might have been in a previous era. We came up with a few scenarios. With those craggy yet well-preserved looks and that shaggy hair, you could see him as a Roundhead general in the English Civil War or perhaps a northern warlord in medieval times, with chest plate, scabbard and broadsword, master of all he surveys after decades of fighting for territory with rival barons.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe popular amongst @ManUtd fans. pic.twitter.com/fym66d1huR
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) April 7, 2024
Liverpool’s strike force is in form. Good thing that United are so defensively solid…
A humiliating defeat here, in front of Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and Erik Ten Hag’s future has to be in doubt. Though he doesn’t think so.
Jamie Jackson’s not so sure.
Updated
Preamble
Manchester United’s 4-3 win over Liverpool sure feels like a long time ago. And something of a freak result. Since then, Liverpool have continued to lead the chase for the Premier League title, Jurgen Klopp finding solutions to the problems presented by the opposition. Meanwhile, Erik ten Hag has taken on the look of a man who wishes he could bury his head below the collar of his turtle neck. United are all but out of the chase for the top five while Liverpool need a win to go back above Arsenal and Manchester City. Can United upset their historic rivals? The only real evidence they might came within that match three weeks ago.
Kick-off is that odd 3.30pm time. Join me.
