Manchester, October 24 (BUS): There were a host of moments that confirmed Manchester United’s humiliation against Liverpool, the Associated Press reported today.
Perhaps it came with Mohamed Salah completing a hat-trick in the 50th minute. Or at the celebrations where Liverpool defender Andy Robertson was repeatedly heard shouting ‘keep it up’ at his teammates when they were already 5-0 and showing no mercy.
Or there was the sight of Alex Ferguson shaking his head, sighing in the Old Trafford managers box to see the chaos unfold at the team that once led him to so much glory.
Near him was his former Liverpool opponent, Kenny Dalglish, beaming with glee.
Fewer United fans were there to watch the final embers of the embarrassment that began on Sunday, after players had already been booed at the end of the first half.
Once Paul Pogba – the only change for Manchester United when he trailed 4-0 in the first half for the first time in a Premier League match – was sent off for a foul with 30 minutes left, the home team’s fans began to pour away.
Hundreds could already be seen outside the stadium, heading home to leave for a spectacle of the interior, all the singing coming from Liverpool’s visiting section, mostly to taunt Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
They sang “Ole’s at the wheel”, relying on the manager’s tribute the club adopted after former player Rio Ferdinand used it.
And they urged this by saying: “Oh Oli, give us a wave.”
How long until United says goodbye, a manager who has benefited from more than $500 million in player spending in three years but looks far from delivering his first Premier League title since Ferguson retired in 2013 after finishing 13th.
He has been the biggest gambler in appointments after Ferguson – David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho – due to his lack of experience managing a high-profile club, and has earned the job based on his status as a title-winning player under the Scots.
There is a lot more that can protect you from nostalgia than brutal assessments at a club that has had no title since Mourinho won the Europa League in 2018.
Even Cristiano Ronaldo’s comeback from Ferguson’s glory years wasn’t like a comeback. The late comeback hid the cracks, such as Ronaldo snatching the late winning goal against Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday.
But United’s defense was quite rough against Liverpool, conceding five minutes later. It was such a spectacle of fiasco that Solskjaer consistently provided little clues he could correct.
Salah had just received the pass from Roberto Firmino. To his left was Robertson. To his right, Naby Keita. Only Luke Shaw was ahead of them as the last line to resist the United. Salah passed the ball to Keita, who passed David de Gea.
It was Diogo Jota who slipped to stab the ball over the line in the 13th minute from a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross after a muddle between Harry Maguire and Shaw.
Salah’s first goal – which allowed the striker to score in Liverpool’s 10th game in a row – came after Maguire’s shot was initially saved.
The loose ball fell in front of Keita, who cut it for Salah to shoot a high shot into the net.
Shortly before the whistle at the end of the first half, Salah managed to send United in the second half after receiving another slice of misery after a side pass from Jota’s pass.
Everything Solskjaer said in the break didn’t change anything.
Five minutes into the second half, Jordan Henderson pierced the defense with a halfway pass that Salah ran before de Gea passed.
The only surprise was that United did not concede again. The hosts have suffered enough.
After nine games of the season, the England champions are 20 times seven points behind Liverpool in second place with Chelsea another point in the lead.
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