MANCHESTER UNITED finally showed some steel as they drew 2-2 at rivals Liverpool.
The league leaders had to settle for a point despite going 2-1 up at Anfield.
Mo Salah’s penalty looked to have sealed victory and extend their lead at the top of the table.
But Amad Diallo’s timely effort rescued a point for Ruben Amorim.
There were brilliant battles all over the pitch, with some proving to be more decisive than others.
Here, SunSport’s Dean Scoggins lifts the lid on Tactics Exposed…
TRENT A REAL TARGET
On that performance, a free transfer to Real Madrid is too expensive.
Everybody’s talked about Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defending for a long time, we know he’s not the greatest defensively, but he has so many other attributes.
Full credit to Ruben Amorim because this wasn’t just about a poor performance, it was that Manchester United targeted that area.
Fifty-four per cent of United’s attacks went down the left and that was not by chance.
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Even Ugarte and Mainoo were down to that left, but it was Bruno who had a fabulous game.
His tactical nous and plan with Diogo Dalot was brilliant.
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They blocked this inside left lane where Trent would normally go inverted.
He thought ‘I can’t really go in there so I’ll hold my right-back position’, and Dalot hugged the left touchline really wide.
Trent didn’t want to go all the way out to him, because that leaves an enormous gap inside for Fernandes.
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He ended up in no-man’s land and despite having the most touches of any Liverpool player did nothing with the ball.
His mind was scrambled, the transfer may have come into it, but I don’t want to take away from what United did.
As soon as Fernandes and Dalot suckered Trent out into right-back, Rasmus Hojlund ran into the space behind. United were all singing from the same sheet.
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MAINOO & MANU MASTERCLASS
Mainoo and Ugarte’s legs are back.
Ugarte is very good at that simple pass to give it to somebody else. while Mainoo is very good in tight spaces.
In Amorim’s 3-4-3, the two midfielders have a lot of work to do. Mainoo was outstanding, he played Curtis Jones off the park.
There’s a lot of ground to cover, not just up and down but across the field to stop Liverpool coming in.
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One midfielder was stopping Trent inverting, the other was on the other side where Alexis Mac Allister likes to drift inside.
They stifled Liverpool in that area, they narrowed the line so there was no room for Mo Salah to play in between.
There was no joy for Diaz either. Ugarte and Mainoo dropped onto the edge of the box and allowed Harry Maguire to be at the centre dictating play.
They were, for the first time under Amorim, comfortable without the ball. It was a real big step forward.
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JUMPING DEFENDERS
Jumping out of position for defenders means coming out of the back line.
Playing with just the three, it’s dangerous. But we saw all three United centre-backs at the right time jump out of position to engage with a forward or midfielder.
They won big tackles because they trusted the other two guys were behind.
It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to win the ball but you’re closing the space in midfield. You know you’ve got others behind you.
It sends a message, ‘You’re not getting any time to turn here’.
What it meant was Liverpool passed the ball backwards the most of any game this season.
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OVER & ONANA
We are seeing more positive signs from Onana. They usually use a zigzag pattern with him to play out from the back.
But in this game it was much more direct. It was 80 per cent long passes from Onana.
This was not a hoof. This was a plan. They didn’t want to be playing around their own box. Liverpool are pressing machines.
The 3-4-3 made the pitch smaller. It was a bit old school. They could try and win the second ball back.
It enabled it to be a much more structured game than what Liverpool wanted it to be.
But it was exactly what Amorim wanted it to be.
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SLOT’S DARWIN THEORY
It was a really brave substitution from Arne Slot to bring on Darwin Nunez at 1-1.
We know what he brings — chaos. He makes those darting runs in behind and drags the defence.
If you see him running you can’t hold your line and hope for offside.
Slot pushed Nunez up front because he was fed up with Maguire dictating play.
It was very clever from Slot, he knew United had his shape and number at that moment.
It changed the pattern, the last 20 minutes were chaotic and fair play to United for setting it up.
It was a brilliant watch. It was good from a neutral perspective to see somebody give Liverpool a good game.
