Erik ten Hag can take plenty of positives from the second-half fightback. However, the one major concern would be the injury suffered by Rashford.
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Manchester United bounced back from mid-week disappointment to hold Liverpool to a thrilling 2-2 draw. The Red Devils blew a lead in the final minutes of the game to lose 4-3 at Chelsea on Thursday night. Hence, the pressure was on them to provide a response on Sunday. However, it was not going to be easy against a Liverpool side that are involved in an intriguing title race. With a lot riding on this fixture, it was undoubtedly the game of the weekend.
Liverpool started on the front foot and dominated the first half. They created several opportunities but failed to make the most of them. Brilliant saves by Andre Onana or last-ditch blocks and poor finishing meant the visitors only had a 1-0 lead going into the break. That lone goal was scored by Luis Diaz. The visitors got punished for their missed opportunities at the start of the second half. Bruno Fernandes reacted quickly to a misplaced pass by Jarell Quansah to score a wonder goal from just inside Liverpool’s half.
With the Old Trafford crowd on the back, Manchester United kept pushing for another goal and found one when teenage sensation Kobbie Mainoo scored a beautiful curler to put the home side in front. However, United were not able to hold on to the lead after Aaron Wan-Bissaka conceded a penalty towards the end of the match. Mohamed Salah stepped up to score the equaliser. Even though Liverpool had opportunities after that, they were not able to take them, as the Premier League fixture finished 2-2.
Despite not holding on to the lead, Erik ten Hag can take plenty of positives from the second-half fightback. However, the one major concern would be the injury suffered by Marcus Rashford. The English international came off injured just past the hour mark. However, ten Hag does not feel that the injury could be a long-term one. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think it will be long term,” he told MUTV after the full-time whistle.
Shifting the attention back to the game, the manager found positives and negatives from the action-packed draw. “Maybe you heard or you were in the dressing room but that’s what I told the players – mixed emotions. On one side, very disappointed. Again, we give a certain win out of our hands by making, let’s say, not a very clever mistake there, like on Thursday and like last Saturday. And we lose seven points in one week, where we should have had nine points. That makes a huge difference. On the other side, I’m very proud of this team and we have young players coming in and then give this performance and can play on this level and it shows the future for Man United is very bright,” he told the official broadcasters.
Ten Hag also explained what went wrong in the first half that was utterly dominated by Liverpool. “You saw Liverpool were dominating the game but we stayed in the game. In decisive moments, we were losing duels and losing battles. But then the resilience and the quality, the way we play and the way, in and out of possession, how we organised it and how they played there together. Also the resilience because it was necessary in the first half, when we didn’t win the decisive duels and we were hammered. We were bullied by Liverpool. The young players were sometimes even overwhelmed but, then, in the second half, they stepped up and you saw the improvement in the belief and they were convinced we could get a win,” he elaborated.
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