Liverpool vs. Manchester United: *Bumper* Post-Match Analysis

Paul Tomkins, Andrew Beasley, Daniel Rhodes and other TTT regulars will give their thoughts on the match for 24 hours after the game, so the article received via email is unlikely to be the final version. There's statistics from the match and videos too.

Post-Match Thoughts

Paul Tomkins

Football is never harder than when you think it'll be easy. I've said that all week, with too many Liverpool fans thinking it will be a walkover, and the media writing off Man United to a silly degree.

And football is rarely easy in derbies, against teams who are doing so badly it feels like a “free hit” for them.

That said, I didn't expect Liverpool to be so poor, mainly in terms of decision-making. It was utterly brainless at times, albeit in a totally dominant display in many respects.

I've spoken recently about Liverpool outscoring the xG from distance, but not from silly shots. Today was full of silly and downright stupid shots.

Liverpool had an insane 34 attempts, but almost always too quickly, from the wrong distance or angle. If it was on target it was straight at the keeper.

The Reds were still by far the better team in a game of attack vs defence, but when someone needed to go across goal they shot near post, and there was a total lack of composure, and in the first half, a lack of 'touch' from Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai.

The majority of my analysis and the analysis of the others follows for subscribers only.