Harry Maguire heads Man Utd winner at Anfield over misfiring Liverpool
HARRY'S GAME: Manchester United's Harry Maguire celebrates scoring their side's second goal as Liverpool fans react during the Premier League match at Anfield.
It had been the best part of a decade since Manchester United won at Anfield and slightly longer since Liverpool lost four in a row. Arguably the most famed forehead in football changed all that on a red-letter day for Ruben Amorim.
Six minutes remained of a contest you simply couldn't take your eyes off when Harry Maguire, old slabhead himself, rose to head home Bruno Fernandes' booming centre to seal a seismic victory for United and their Portuguese head coach.
When does a blip become a full-blown crisis for Arne Slot? Probably when Liverpool's perennial rivals from down the East Lancashire Road who so often of late have been put to the sword in front of the Kop, pull within two points of them in the Premier League table.
Liverpool looked to have rescued a point 12 minutes from time as persistence finally paid off for Cody Gakpo. The Dutchman had seen three efforts strike the frame of United's goal but belatedly found the target with a close range finish from Federico Chiesa's driven cross.
For such a long time, implausibly given the amount of chances created and frittered away by both sides, it appeared Bryan Mbeumo's second goal of the season, scored while many fans were still taking their seats, would prove decisive.
Virgil van Dijk didn't cover himself in glory as Liverpool tamely surrendered parity after just 63 seconds. After leaving Alexis MacAllister in a heap in the centre circle as he accidentally elbowed his team-mate in the back of the head in an aerial challenge with Mbeumo, the Liverpool skipper hardly bust a gut in his efforts to cover back.
Manchester United's Cameroonian forward was far more switched on, and exploited the gaping hole between Liverpool's centre-backs to speed onto Amad Diallo's perfectly-weighted through ball into the box before confidently beating Giorgi Mamardashvili at his near post.
Liverpool were clearly aggrieved Michael Oliver didn't halt play in the run-up to the goal to allow treatment for their prone South American midfielder but in fairness to the referee there were but a few seconds between van Dijk's clumsy challenge and the ball hitting the back of the net.
A ridiculously open first half could have seen the sides share at least half a dozen goals but they remained separated only by Mbeumo's strike, the second fastest in the Premier League era of this fixture.
Gakpo's curling 20 yarder came back off Senne Lammens' left-hand post from a Mo Salah pass at the culmination of a devastating counter-attack.
Liverpool remained vulnerable at the back and Fernandes should have doubled the advantage when his shot from just inside the area from Diallo's cutback grazed a post. Given the time and space available to the United captain, it was a glaring miss.
The basketball theme continued as an Ibrahima Konate pass released Alexander Isak through on goal only for the Swede to be denied by a fine block from Lammens.
Gakpo came close again, although this time at the wrong end when the forward sliced a Fernandes free-kick perilously close to his own goal as the errant clearance landed on the roof of the net.
The Liverpool forward threatened at the Kop end again immediately after the break, his shot hitting the upright after the ubiquitous forward controlled Salah's flighted free-kick into the box.
After Slot's triple change to go four up top, goals at both ends seemed a certainty and so it proved as Gakpo levelled before Maguire restored the visitors' lead.
There was still time for Gakpo to head criminally wide from Jeremie Frimpong's cross when it appeared easier to score but it was that kind of game, one where it was always best to expect the unexpected.
(4-2-3-1): Mamardashvili 5; Bradley 6 (Wirtz 62 , 5), Konate 5, van Dijk 4, Kerkez 4; Gravenberch 5 (Jones 62, 5), MacAllister 5 (Ekitike 62, 5); Salah 4 (Frimpong 85, 6), Szoboszlai 6, Gakpo 7; Isak 4 (Chiesa 72, 6). Booked:
(3-4-2-1): Lammens 7; de Ligt 7, Maguire 8, Shaw 6 (Yoro 85, 6); Diallo 7 (Dorgu 58, 6), Casemiro 6 (Ugarte 58, 6), Bruno Fernandes 7 (Mainoo 85, 6), Dalot 6; Mbeumo 7, Mount 5 (Sesko 61, 6); Cunha 6. Booked: Diallo, Casemiro.
: Michael Oliver
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