Manchester United finally showed signs of life under new manager Ruben Amorim on Sunday, at least since the win at Manchester City, holding Premier League leaders Liverpool to a surprise 2-2 draw and forcing the Reds to drop points for the first time since September.
The Red Devils were competitive from start to finish but delivered the game’s first big shock when Lisandro Martínez scored the game’s opening goal in the 52nd minute. Liverpool responded quickly with a stunning strike from Cody Gakpo just seven minutes later, while fortunes swung the Reds’ way when Mohamed Salah converted a penalty in the 70th minute. Amad Diallo’s equalizer 10 minutes later, though, meant the teams were forced to share the points, a result that was much more favorable to United than Liverpool.
Sunday’s game marked a dramatic departure from their last meeting in September when Arne Slot’s side won 3-0 at Old Trafford in one of the final games before United fired manager Erik ten Hag. There were some notable similarities between the two games, though – Liverpool’s attack was not at its best on either day, mustering just three shots on target from 11 shots in September and six from 19 on Sunday. The Reds boasted a better-than-expected goals advantage this time around, outdoing United 2.71 to 1.7 after edging them out 1.79 to 1.36 in September, but the penalty conceded by Matthijs de Ligt helped their case considerably on a day that they left a little bit to be desired in attack.
United may have benefitted from Liverpool’s offensive lull on Sunday, but it is hard not to recognize their own improvements from September’s results to this one. They can actually reasonably argue, for the first time in a long time, that they were hard done by at Anfield – the penalty called against de Ligt was fair but also an accident, while Gakpo’s goal came off a shot valued at 0.06 expected goals. They had their chances to sneak in a game-winner, too, through Harry Maguire’s 97th-minute miss, while Andre Onana’s impressive save in stoppage time also kept them in the game.
The areas of improvement are still fairly obvious for Amorim’s side, with Maguire’s miss headlining a wasteful day in attack that saw the visitors post just four shots on target from 13 overall attempts. For the first time in a long time, though, they seemed like a team in the hunt for real results rather than one slumping to the final whistle as they had over the festive period. Their strengths are still limited – Diallo remains a bright spot after scoring in Amorim’s biggest games so far, a short list that ends with Sunday’s game at Liverpool and begins with the surprise 2-1 win in the Manchester derby last month. The defensive combination of Maguire, de Ligt and Martinez might also help United finally clean things up in the back, which has been an issue for more than a year. It feels like they finally got some of the intangibles right on Sunday, though, making this a result to build upon as they aim to course correct after the ten Hag years.
As for Liverpool, they seemed to lack control of a game, which is fairly uncommon for Slot’s restrained but effective team. One might chalk this performance up to the fatigue of a busy season, which will not necessarily slow down with an EFL Cup semifinal in three days and fixtures in the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. It is far too early to call this cause for concern, though – Liverpool are still unbeaten in 24 games and boast a six-point lead with a game in hand at the top of the Premier League table, assisted by the fact that Arsenal drew against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.
