As Jadon Sancho so deftly changed direction, he may well have changed the course of a season. Liverpool, like James Milner and Alisson, were left sprawling into the wrong direction and looking up at Manchester United. Erik ten Hag’s side were finally looking forward, looking much so much better, and just picking up speed.
That was the story of this stirring 2-1 victory, that absolutely transforms the mood around these two great rivals.
United are resurgent, sparked by the electrical charge of their own acceleration. Liverpool are forced into reverse, as they struggled to keep up, and possibly forced into a crisis of their own too.
Jurgen Klopp’s team did look so notably lightweight, as Ten Hag got all his big calls right. That didn’t just apply to leaving Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire on the bench, but also bringing the reborn Anthony Martial off it just as his team seemed to be dropping off. He put Marcus Rashford through and the forward, similarly inspired, put the game beyond doubt.
Old Trafford, already raucous in protest against the owners, was now rocking in celebration and hope.
Maybe this is the real start of the Ten Hag era. Maybe it’s just an emotionally defiant response to desperate circumstances.
The key is they can look up again.
Klopp does not have that luxury, or the comfort of maybes. He needs certainty, as it suddenly feels like absolutely nothing is assured about his team.
Klopp could point to team selections of his own, but most of them enforced, rather than his choice.
That midfield nevertheless looks a real mistake. It wasn’t just Sancho’s feet that Milner was struggling to keep up with.
This was why that goal was so much more than a composed change of direction. It was a debilitating change of pace. This was one reason Milner, Alisson and most of the Liverpool team were so wrong-footed. They had been struggling to keep up with United’s energy and aggression, as Diogo Dalot, Lisandro Martinez and Bruno Fernandes – in particular – were first to almost every ball. It was the Portuguese’s quick-thinking that actually set his side off, sending the play much higher up the pitch with an inventive ball that was more like a drilled volley. Liverpool just about managed to clear from the resultant chaos, only for Fernandes to then send the ball across the box when everyone expected a shot or pass inside. Anthony Elanga played it back, and Sancho played an entire defence for fools.
United’s lead was more than deserved, especially given how Elanga had hit the post early on.
The only potential caveat was that it was like their gameplan was entirely founded on pace. They weren’t able to hesitate or suffer doubt in the way they did against Brighton and Brentford because they just didn’t give themselves that time to think. De Gea was now getting it up the pitch. Raphael Varane was so maturely setting the pace, Martinez was setting the tone.
It was just that, once that energy inevitably wore off, Liverpool did finally look in command. It of course led to their best spells.
It also led to a second inspired call from Ten Hag.
Martial – who many around United believe could be the coach’s big individual “project” this season – was introduced, and just offered enough impetus. The French striker, whose name was first made in this fixture, may well have remade his reputation with one touch. It was Martial’s ball that took out the entire Liverpool backline just after half-time, setting up Rashford for a one-on-one.
On any other occasion in the last six minutes, including the opening game against Brighton, many would have expected the forward to hesitate, halt and waste the chance.
Not a bit of it.
There was no doubt about Rashford whatsoever, as he thundered the ball past Alisson before the Liverpool player had a chance to think.
