Liverpool welcomed longtime rivals Manchester United to Anfield last weekend in the Premier League.
The teams were in contrasting situations: the league champions and the Europa League leaders were in the top half of the standings, while the Champions League losers were in the bottom half of the standings and in a disappointing position.
Liverpool dominated the game, as most expected. However, they struggled against the away team’s defensive block, with hardly any side backs going up.
Liverpool lacked the ingenuity near the opponent’s goal that had been seen at Crystal Palace in the previous two matches, and there were few decisive goals throughout the match.
Manchester United, on the other hand, was also held up in possession and was forced to defend from start to finish. Despite numerous chances on the counter, the visitors were unable to penetrate the defense of Alisson Becker and others, and the traditional match ended quietly.
Alan Shearer, a former England international who scored many goals for Newcastle and Blackburn, was scathing in his criticism of the match, saying that the game was rotten, terrible, and low-level.
He used all kinds of words such as rotten, terrible, and low-level to complain about the performance of both teams.
“It was a rotten game. I can’t believe I had to watch it live and then sit and watch it again on Match of the Day.”
“It was an awful game. The standard was poor.”
“I know Liverpool were the better team and had more chances, more possession, but the standard of forward play from both teams was terrible.”
“Both teams actually got into some good positions.”
“Man United twice in the second half, [Rasmus] Hojlund should have scored but missed it.”
“It was a really poor game. Man United had to defend, defend, defend; Liverpool just had nothing in attack.”
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