Can Liverpool really beat Manchester United 7-0? Is this score real? Is this real life? Is this just fantasy? What happened on Sunday afternoon?

The truth is that what always happened in leveling scores like this happened at Anfield: a lot of things at once. When we talk about derbies, games between teams that are on the same shelf, such a result is never due to the winner alone.

A triumphant performance is never enough

No matter how well you play, no matter how dominant you are, you don’t score more than four goals. When things get out of hand others have helped and the list goes something like this:

1. A team performs exceptionally well.
2. The opponent experiences a tragic night, with many individual mistakes.
3. Efficiency meets red.
4. The Crasher went into the match thinking he was better than he really was.

United’s sense of superiority

Let’s start with the last one. It’s hard to break a fighting team like that. Such slaps are usually eaten Teams that go into battle with a sense of superiority, but that’s not the reality.

United had every right to go to Anfield feeling good. Third in League, great European qualifiers with excitement over Barcelona, ​​title return with League Cup final win over Newcastle.

It would be absurd to question the progress he’s made this year with Ten Hach on the bench, but at the same time it would be too much to think United have come back and wrapped things up.

The simplest program after the World Cup

After the World Cup, United had the easiest schedule in the Premier League. Ten Haag side played 10 games before going to Anfield.

Eight of United’s ten opponents after the World Cup were underperforming sides. Only twice The Red Devils They faced a top 10 team in the win over City at Old Trafford and the loss to Arsenal in London.

At Anfield came the 3rd game and it evolved into Waterloo.

Improved but not dramatically

United’s improvement is a given, but not as big as the result streak and third-place finish suggested. The numbers give us a better feeling.

United went to Anfield averaging 1.55 xgoals per game. An improvement on last year’s 1.34, further proof for those who can understand that an attack can work better if you remove last year’s static Ronaldo from it.

Improving on defense as well as United have dropped from 1.34 xGoals Against last year to 1.15 this year. Improved defensive mode yes, really good defensive mode no.

With 1.15 xGoals Against per game, United are not only well behind City with 0.72 and Arsenal with 0.87, but also behind Newcastle with 0.96, West Ham with 1.00, Brighton with 1.05 and Tottenham with 1:11.

The 0.40 xGoals difference United went to Anfield with may be excellent from last year, but it’s not a dramatic leap forward compared to 0.35 in 2020-21 and 0.36 in 2019- 20

No contender

In short, this year’s United have simply taken a step forward after last year’s setback. It’s never gotten any better than the consistently mediocre image it’s held for the past five seasons.

It has laid the foundation to be able to look forward with optimism, but no, it has never become a title-worthy team anywhere.

You can’t do that in a season where you’ve won six at City, seven at Liverpool and three at Arsenal.

Mane, Diaz and Nunes

Let’s go to Liverpool too. “They miss Mane, he shouldn’t have gone, they should have kept him, not Salah dragging, Nunes came out.”.

They’ve been written and said over and over since the season began, but they’ve never been true.

The great Manet was not missingHe had been replaced by Dias since last year. He was missing and is still missing, having been incapacitated since early October.

Nunes didn’t come out with a coat. The 23-year-old Uruguayan has recorded 14 goals and four assists in all competitions. In his first season in a top 5 league still immature, in a position that makes it very difficult for him on the left, not even able to speak English to make himself understood.

Disrespect to Salah

And Salah does not crawl. All soccer players go through periods of bad endings. A few months everything goes in and then everything goes out. Form means it comes and goes.

But form is temporary, class is permanent. It was almost comical that Liverpool had so many problems almost everywhere on the pitch and the conversation revolved around world-class Salah.

It was also a superficial approach when it was clear from the start of the season that Liverpool wanted to put Núñez in high-performing positions, that the new style of play took Salah out of danger.

Almost irreverent talk about a player who can do so much on the pitch, who can deliver without scoring, who did that to Martinez when they were 3-0 down, who is now Liverpool’s top scorer in the Premier League having passed Fowler with 61 (). !) fewer games, who has scored 11 goals in the Reds’ last six games against United.

Liverpool’s five whys

The above was never the case. And most importantly, he has never been the cause of Liverpool’s image that year.

Liverpool are unrecognizable this year because they can’t walk. In recent years, Klopp’s side have consistently come out on top in three categories in the Premier League: total distance covered by players, runs and intense sprints.

1. The intensity, the press, the non-stop running was Liverpool’s identity, its name. And this year they got lost. Why;
2. Because Liverpool have enjoyed an unprecedented 63-game season in all competitions, chasing four titles and suffering just four defeats to the last day.
3. Because Klopp’s team is in transition anyway. A building that started with the additions of Zota, Konate and Dias, continued with Nunes and Hakpo and still has many steps ahead.
4. Because this conversion ignored the middle of the team. Nobody got there and Klopp said earlier in the summer that Liverpool didn’t need to sign a midfielder, changed his mind just before the end of the transfer window and finally made the ridiculous addition of Arthur Melo.
5. With Fabinho and Henderson ‘running’ for most of the season, Thiago has been struggling with injuries. Liverpool needed the freshness of 18-year-old Bycetic.

suicidal approach

Liverpool’s game has always been based on running and pressing at an elite level. The tragedy of that year was that in back-to-back games, the Reds tried to win with the same style of play but with the handbrake on.

A suicidal approach that constantly got opponents in the face as Alisson and Liverpool were unable to control the game.

It was heartbreaking that the picture was worse after the World Cup break. You would have expected Liverpool to do one of two things: either they would have played fresher or they would have found a different approach, they would have tried to win without the tension of the past.

The return to action was miserable, with even greater problems. Three defeats to Brentford, Brighton and Wolves, five to Real at Anfield for the Champions League.

Picture from another season

What happened to United? Klopp said it in one sentence in the Flash interview: “First of all, it looks like a result from another season”. Yes, because the picture is from another season. Fabinho was good for maybe the first time this year and raged against Casemiro, Henderson didn’t stop running, Elliott had 9 (!) possession wins.

Liverpool was Liverpool. Added to this was the safety of the ‘big’ United, embodied in the demeanor of Anthony, who never missed Robertson’s first-half rebound.

World class performances, tragic De Gea

Then there was the extra efficiency of the Reds, who found world-class execution particularly on Hakpo’s two goals and Salah’s right-footed volley.

And then that came along tragic image of De Geawho is obviously not to blame for the defeat, but at the same time is more responsible than the scorers for the extent of the score.

Don’t underestimate Anfield

And then added United’s nervous breakdown, which would logically be a lesson for Ten Hach. Before the game, the Dutchman made a mistake many have made in the past: he downplayed Anfield.

“For me, nothing is different from the other games. The field has the same dimensions, there are three referees, there is also a fourth, the ball is spherical and has air in it.”.

“The second half was unprofessional,” said the Dutchman after the game.

Well, sometimes that happens at Anfield. Ten Haag could trust Guardiola more. Pep knows the pitch well and he said years ago “Something happens that doesn’t happen in any other stadium in the world, they score a goal and in the next few minutes you feel like you’re going to eat four more, you feel small and the opponents are everywhere“.

Ten Hach knows now, but the Heptara wrote. United were small and Liverpool’s players were carried over from previous seasons.

What does the result say?

Of course, the historical result does not change the big picture. Both teams need a lot more. United still have a long way to go to become a true title contender, Liverpool just a few more steps to get back to the level of the top seasons enjoyed under Klopp.

Even with a normal result, say 3-0, the Anfield derby serves one purpose. To understand that one team may be dramatically worse than last year, the other may have made significant progress, but no, United have not overtaken Liverpool this year.