Well if that match wasn’t an encapsulation of Liverpool’s season in a nutshell, I don’t know what is. The Reds were extremely unconvincing in the first half, and yet were still unlucky to be behind 2-0. A couple of Manchester United mistakes and a little bit of quality from Dominik Szoboszlai dragged Liverpool right back into it as the match was tied 2-2 with a quarter of an hour. With all the momentum going their way, and the Manchester United players seeming rattled and frazzled, a poor defensive sequence compounded by a truly terrible attempted clearance by Alexis Mac Allister gave Kolby Mainoo the chance to play hero, netting his first goal of the season in the 77th minute. Liverpool pushed for a goal to tie it up again, but there was again a distinct lack of attacking patterns of play and very little quality when it mattered.
Below, we take a look at some winners and losers on the night, and attempt to disentangle narrative from fact.
Winners
Dominik Szoboszlai
With Liverpool looking like they had very little idea of how to generate attacking play, the Hungarian midfielder again loaded the team up on his back and said “I’ll just go ahead and do it all myself”. He picked off the pass near midfield early in the second half, carrying the ball down the length of the pitch and calmy using the runs of others to open a crack of space for him to slot a shot into the bottom corner. Just 10 minutes later, Szoboszlai was fortuitously in the right spot after a poor turnover by goalkeeper Senne Lammens to provide a simple square ball for Cody Gakpo to smash into an empty net.
He now has 6 goals and 5 assists in the Premier League, and 12 goals and 9 assists across all competitions. I shudder to think where Liverpool would be without Szoboszlai’s heroics.
Cody Gakpo
As usual, Gakpo wasn’t exactly convincing for much of the match, but he did manage to pop up when it mattered to knock home an easy goal to tied the match 2-2. It was Gakpo’s 50th goal for Liverpool.
As is his wont, Cody stuffed the stat sheet despite not really seeming to look the part. He led the team with 5 shots and completed a team high 3 dribbles, while also providing a key pass.
Losers
Alexis Mac Allister
It was another poor performance in a poor season for Mac Alliseter. The Argentine midfielder was left to cover large swathes of space with the tactical set up, and he was bypassed all too frequently. He had several unconvincing clearances, including a poor effort that placed the ball directly into the path of Kolby Mainoo for Manchester United’s third goal.
Jeremie Frimpong
Arne Slot yet again showed the world he thinks Frimpong is an attacker rather than a right back, deploying the diminutive Dutchman as the right winger in place of the injured Mohamed Salah while midfielder Curtis Jones manned the right back slot. Frimpong’s speed did cause some problems for Manchester United at times, but he was not sharp on the ball, turning it over 4 times. He also struggled to generate any attacking output, finishing with 0 shots and 0 key passes after fluffing a couple of opportunities.
Alexander Isak
The Swedish striker was missing yet again through an injury after rumors started swirling late Saturday that he was a doubt. It’s another big miss in a match where Liverpool really could have used him, if nothing else as a body to occasionally occupy the Man U center backs.
Arne Slot
The Dutch head coach (not to be confused with manager) is now tied with Rafa Benitez for the most losses in a season across all competitions while in charge of Liverpool with 19. Not exactly the type of records you want to match, and there are still three matches to go the break it.
Dissecting the Narrative
It has been a season if disappointment for Liverpool as they have racked up some not-so-great milestones. With the loss against Manchester United, the Reds have suffered being swept on the season by their regional rivals for the first time in a decade. It also was the 19th loss across all competitions on the year, and the 11th in the Premier League. That ties Arne Slot for the most losses in a season.
The only consolation for Liverpool is that the rest of the league has been quite terrible as well. A top 3 finish is now even more unlikely, but finishing in the top five to qualify for the Champions League is still somehow fairly likely with a 6 point cushion over Bournemouth in 6th with 3 matches left to play.
What Happens Next
Three more matches to limp through to get to the end of the season, with a home match against Chelsea up next Saturday. Liverpool in theory need to pick up some points if they want to ensure they finish in the top 5 and qualify for Champions League. All of the remaining matches are against teams in the hunt for UCL spots. Cool, what could possibly go wrong.