MU actively defended, holding Liverpool to a draw at Anfield

The much-anticipated English derby between Liverpool and Man United ended up being one of the most boring matches of the season. The reason was the negative style of play that manager Mourinho applied to Man United...

Going to Anfield, Mourinho has a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the last 6 matches against Liverpool. However, the poor results in the previous confrontations with Klopp with 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses, along with the good form that Liverpool is showing, forced Mourinho to choose a negative pragmatic style of play for Man United in this match.

MU players played fiercely from the first minutes of the match.

Bailly received the first yellow card of the match.

In the first half, Man United played a tight defense, pressing and actively clashing. It was Man United's compact style of play that surprised Liverpool and throughout the first half, the home team was almost stuck in finding a way into the opponent's goal. Meanwhile, although Man United played with the right intention, with too few forces in the attack, the away team almost did not create any dangerous situations. The first 45 minutes of the match were therefore tense but ended unattractively.

Taking the initiative to defend, MU only approached Liverpool's goal with long shots.

After the first 45 minutes of playing in a game set up by Man United, Liverpool improved after the break. There were more good combinations from the home players, but against a pragmatic Man United, the opportunities still came in small drops.

MU's clearest chance was Ibra's inaccurate close-range header at the beginning of the second half.

It was not until nearly an hour into the game that Liverpool had their first real chance, and it was initiated by two defenders. The situation came in the 59th minute when Matip passed the ball to Emre Can, who handled it skillfully in the penalty area and then fired a close-range shot, forcing goalkeeper De Gea to show off his talent. Liverpool played more excitedly after this opportunity. In the 71st minute, it was Coutinho's turn to fire a dangerous long-range shot, forcing goalkeeper De Gea to once again throw himself to clear the ball.

Coutinho fired a perfect long-range shot, forcing De Gea to fly as far as he could to successfully block it.

In the second half, there was a time when Liverpool had 75% of the ball possession compared to Man United's 25%. However, Liverpool could not find many solutions to approach Man United's goal, facing the visitors' layered defense. After the above dangerous plays, Man United played even more focused defense.

Mourinho has been successful with the style of play he applied to MU.

And they achieved their goal of taking a point in the big game, against an opponent in better form. Even so, Man United's approach to the match as well as their performance in the proud English derby will certainly not be able to convince the home fans.

With this draw, Man United had to be satisfied with 7th place on the rankings. Meanwhile, Liverpool with 1 point only raised their total points to 17, missing the opportunity to level the gap with the two leading teams, Man City and Arsenal (both with 19 points).

Line-up

Liverpool: Karius; Clyne, Lovren, Matip, Milner (Moreno 86'); Henderson, Can; Mane, Firmino (Origi 86'), Coutinho; Sturridge (Lallana 60').

MU: De Gea; Valencia, Bailly, Smalling, Blind; Fellaini, Pogba; Rashford, Herrera, Young (Shaw 90'); Ibrahimovic.

According to Bongdaplus