Erik Ten Hag's bravery rewarded as United stun Liverpool
Football fortune does not always favour the brave but it most certainly did for Erik ten Hag last night as goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford secured Manchester United a sorely-needed victory against their bitter rivals.
There may have been bolder calls in the post-Alex Ferguson years than Ten Hag’s decision to drop Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo following United’s disastrous start to the season — but it is hard to recall them.
And, certainly, few have had such a spectacular impact and a night of protests off the field, against the club’s unpopular owners, stood in stark contrast to the deafening noise and sheer joy - or, perhaps, it was simply relief - that greeted virtually every kick of a memorable game.
There was late anxiety - what else would United fans expect - when Mo Salah headed in after David de Gea had saved well from substitute Fabio Carvalho on 81 minutes but ten Hag had earned what little good luck was coming his way.
Sancho struck after 15 furious minutes in which he and his team-mates had helped a packed Old Trafford largely forget the nightmare start to the season, and the many weeks and months of misery that preceded it.
Liverpool might have been complicit in their own downfall - and this evening would prove a worrying sign for Jurgen Klopp after his side continued their worst start to a league campaign in a decade.
But United were first to every loose ball, snapped at every Liverpool ankle and might even have taken the lead after 10 minutes when Bruno Fernandes brilliantly steered a Scott McTominay pass to Anthony Elanga and the youngster struck the post with a terrific shot.
Five minutes later, there was no Liverpool reprieve as Elanga and Christian Eriksen played a neat one-two in working down the Liverpool left and the former picked out Sancho with a superb pass, Sancho showed terrific footwork as he controlled the ball, waited for James Milner to go to ground, and stroked an ice-cool finish past a well-beaten Alisson.
It was enough to even make Ronaldo applaud on the United bench, while Milner and Virgil van Dijk became embroiled in a furious row with each other, the former obviously less than impressed by his team’s defensive efforts.
Indeed, it was a curious piece of defending by the usually excellent Dutchman who had stood motionless, arms behind back, rather than move to block or tackle Sancho.
But the goal had been coming, with United all too often picking the easy long ball which played Rashford in beyond a static Liverpool back four.
And how Old Trafford, for once with something to think and sing about other than their hatred for the Glazers, responded.
The stadium might have erupted further after 25 minutes when Alisson had to get an important touch on an Eriksen free-kick but this was unfamiliar territory, with United supreme and Liverpool seriously rattled.
And that was no more than ten Hag deserved for, if bold decisions were worth league points, United would have had three in the bag even before kick-off when his selection came through.
Maguire, the man he named club captain within weeks of his arrival at Old Trafford, was left out, as was the world’s most famous footballer, Ronaldo.
Fred and Luke Shaw were also sacrificed from the debacle at Brentford last weekend but, while Maguire and Ronaldo were easily justifiable in pure football terms, their omissions still represented a huge statement — and one not many managers would have had the courage to make.
But the pre-match chatter was about far more than the 11 players selected to start the game, with the biggest and most emotion-charged protest yet against United’s hated owners taking place outside the stadium.
An estimated 10,000 took part in the march and protest, which initially at least, appeared to have gone off without incident but which ensured that the atmosphere for one of European football’s A-list fixtures was even more febrile than normal.
The visitors, of course, injected their usual dash of humour - Liverpool fans brandishing Glazer masks and chanting “Glazers in” but this was a night that appeared game-changing in the fans’ on-going battle to rid themselves of their unpopular owners.
Even during the pre-match introduction of £70m Real Madrid capture Casemiro, the main reaction from United supporters had been chants of “Glazers out.” Liverpool’s panic level lessened slightly as the half progressed but, still, there was little to concern de Gea after his nightmare at Brentford.
And, perhaps United already knew this was to be their evening just before the break, when Fernandes almost converted a Milner header into his own goal, needing Martinez to clear on the line.
But things were going ten Hag’s way and his next big decision, bringing on Anthony Martial at the interval, did not take long to pay off.
Jordan Henderson was caught in midfield after 52 minutes and the United substitute picked up the loose ball, sending Rashford racing clear to beat Alisson from just inside the area; a goal confirmed only after a VAR check for offside.
The contest was pulsating with de Gea quickly required to make a reflex block from Luis Diaz before, at the other end, Rashford’s curling shot was turned around his post by Alisson.
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