Manchester United vs. Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

Paul is busy today, so the article received via email may not be the final version. In the meantime, Andrew Beasley and Daniel Rhodes have thoughts, stats and videos from the game.

Post-Match Thoughts

Paul Tomkins

To follow (maybe…)

Daniel Rhodes

This will be tough to write about.

I find it hard to write about football when the analytical, cold-minded, truth is that players miss chances. Big chances as well. It happens. I’ve written about it many times, and sometimes you win 4-0 with 1 xG and sometimes you draw 2-2 with seven big chances and 3.6 xG versus an opposition who score their only big chance and score from just inside their own half.

This is tough.

This is football. This is frustrating. This doesn’t help how we deal with it but it is a universal truth. If you create high quality chances - away from home - and don’t convert them this heartbreak happens.

But crucially, finishing, despite what most fans think, is random. You can, like Jota, go a full year without a goal then score twice after a bit of luck. If football was predictable, it’d be boring. It’s also incredibly frustrating. Genuinely believe we are playing so well, and not getting ‘the rub of the green’; that finishing fairy has got her Arsenal shirt on, and needs to jump ship to us before it’s too late.

This is tough.

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