Manchester United suffered a painful and sobering defeat to Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
Going into the match the hope was that United would be able to pull together a performance similar to the one that beat the Merseyside club in the FA Cup earlier in the year. But after an even opening half an hour, United capitulated in dramatic fashion.
First, a misplaced pass from Casemiro was intercepted leading to Luis Diaz opening the scoring. This lead was then doubled seven minutes later as the Brazilian midfielder was this time dispossessed by Diaz who eventually crowned the counter with his second of the game – with Casemiro then hauled off at half-time.The match was over as a contest just over ten minutes after the break as this time Kobbie Mainoowas caught in possession with Mohamed Salah rounding off the goals. As has become customary after disappointing defeats, the squad have wisely chosen to steer clear of social media but some players did front up to the loss in post-match interviews.
“The goals are always self-inflicted. You need to commit a mistake to give them the goal. We don’t need to be pointing fingers at everyone, that won’t help us now.
“What’s the point in saying Casemiro lost the ball or Kobbie [Mainoo] lost the ball? They lost the ball because they wanted to be brave. It’s part of football. Don’t make it individual.
“Casemiro is more experienced than me. I don’t need to tell him anything, he knows what football is about.
“He’s played for the two best clubs in the world. Kobbie is an excellent kid. I want him to try more and do this because it’s part of his game. They are huge players for us and will keep being.
“We don’t have to look at the past. We just have to make it different. We lost the game, congratulations to Liverpool, they were more clinical. I don’t look at the stats but the game was tight.”
Diogo Dalot
Dalot meanwhile sent a strong message to his teammates about having the right attitude on the pitch. He told the club’s media: “I’m disappointed. We wanted to win this game for us, for the fans.
“It’s a special game to play but we lost control. When you don’t win the small margins in a game like this, you get puneished.
“Attitude is the first standard for you to play at this club and for you to succeed at this club. You need to play well and win games. But I think the first thing that needs to come is the attitude, and not just talk about it, actually do it on the pitch.
Erik ten Hag
The manager conducted a feisty post-match press conference and hinted he was not a miracle worker. “It is not like I am Harry Potter,” Ten Hag explained.
“You have to acknowledge that. For three players it was their first start of the season.
“I don’t want to talk about positives today. This defeat hurts for us and our fans.
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