We want our title-challengers to be fallible. We don’t want a sense of a procession; we want each point to feel hard-earned. We want a sense of jeopardy about the race for the Premier League. Just perhaps not quite that fallible, not quite that hard-earned. Jeopardy, it tuns out, can be pretty dull.
There were three thoughts to emerge from Sunday’s goalless 0-0 draw between Liverpool and Manchester United. The first was that United really are terrible at the moment, but at least they’ve acknowledged that. There was, paradoxically, something to be admired about the pragmatism of their approach, the way they approached the game almost like a relegation-threatened side. This wasn’t like 2017-18 when José Mourinho took United to Anfield, showed almost no ambition, drew 0-0 and seemed weirdly confused by the criticism that followed. Liverpool then were vulnerable having won one of their previous eight games; here Erik ten Hag was facing a side that had won each of its previous seven home league games this season.
The second was that Raphaël Varane remains a remarkably composed and commanding defender and his absence over the past few weeks is mystifying. Ten Hag has explained it by saying he wants a right-footer to play as the right-sided of the two central defenders with a left-footer to the left so, with Harry Maguire playing well enough to retain his place on the right, that has left no place for Varane (which does not explain the selection of the right-footed Viktor Lindelöf against Everton and Chelsea). On the left at Anfield, with Jonny Evans to the right, Varane excelled – although it may be that that does not work quite so well in a game in which United have more of the ball and require more distribution from their central defenders.
And the third was that, while Liverpool may have gone into the weekend top of the table, they are nowhere near the side that won the title in 2019-20, or the team that finished a point behind Manchester City in 2018-19 or 2021-22. That may come; there is more than half the season still to go. They could still win the title – other teams are flawed as well, but still, this was a performance to raise a lot of doubts.
Liverpool’s problem this season had been how often they go behind. They may only have let in 15, the joint-best record in the league with Arsenal, but an awful lot of them have been the first goal in a game; they’ve gone behind in nine of the 17 games so far, but have lost only one of those matches, picking up a remarkable 18 points from losing positions. This was the first time this season they’d failed to score – and, given they had 34 shots in the game, it can perhaps be written off as a freak.
But there was a raggedness about them that should cause concern. Half of those 34 shots came from outside the box, most pinged straight into a United body, often when more straightforward options were available. Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai misplaced pass after pass. Joe Gomez, who has never scored a senior goal in a career now in its 10th season, had two shots, which is never a good sign.
Darwin Núñez is a player of many qualities, but precision in front of goal is not one of them. After scoring in three games in a row he has now failed to score in any of his last 10 for Liverpool. Being an agent of chaos is perhaps a more useful asset in games you’re not dominating. And, given the two yellow cards Michael Oliver showed Diogo Dalot for dissent in injury time, he was very fortunate not to be sent off for his reaction to being booked for barging Evans after 21 minutes.
But perhaps this is all inherent in the Jürgen Klopp method. Where Pep Guardiola demands control, he has always being quite happy to allow a certain wildness. Guardiola’s sides pick their way carefully through games in a calm and ordered way: pass, pass, pass, pass … pass, pass, cutback, simple finish. Klopp’s overwhelm teams with the fury of their pressing, looking to catch them in transition – as he said shortly after arriving in England eight years ago, Gegenpressing is the greatest playmaker there is; there is then far more scope for improvisation and individual brilliance.
Football, though, changes constantly, people evolve. Guardiola no longer plays the football he did at Barcelona, incorporating a more orthodox centre-forward in Erling Haaland and winger in Jérémy Doku. Klopp too has changed; the elite cannot hope always to play in transition. But still, this felt like what happens when a team that prefers to play into space behind opponents comes up against a resolute side content to sit deep. Ideas were exhausted worryingly quickly.
Liverpool will still overwhelm most opponents. Few sides so lacking in ambition have a Varane. Thirty-four shots will usually produce a goal, even if many are speculative. But this was another reminder that all the title challengers this season are flawed. And while the spectacle on Sunday may have been disappointing, that generally is to be welcomed.
