At a big-picture level, it’s only fair to make excuses for Liverpool, giving Jürgen Klopp’s guys something of a pass by after a grueling few weeks where they have dealt with everything thrown at them. But in phrases of the realities on the pitch at Old Trafford, there’s no way that Manchester United have been allowed to enhance in the FA Cup.
As the ninety minutes drew to a close, it seemed like Erik ten Hag’s team who had been fighting on four fronts these days with an injury-ravaged squad. When Marcus Rashford spurned a late sitter right at the stop of regular time, it appeared Liverpool would cruise on to victory in the extra period, with Klopp’s facet defying common sense with the aid of appearing to have far greater strength than the opponent.
When Harvey Elliott restored the lead, it regarded that would be exactly what happened, only for a late and inexplicable collapse. Maybe you should put a negative Darwin Núñez omit in the lead-up to the equalizer down to fatigue, but the late winner for Manchester United was a clear signal that the deficit was once mental, with almost each and every Liverpool participant naïvely going up for a late corner as the contest needlessly descended into an absurdly open affairMore importantly, the recreation have to in no way have entered extra time in the first place, as a profligate Liverpool aspect failed to capitalize on its near-total dominance. Accumulated physical and psychological stress over a duration of weeks may have played some section in it, however there have been more than enough probabilities for even a drained Reds aspect to clear this remaining hurdle before the international break.
So what would Michael Edwards have made of it all? A visitor at Old Trafford, having been re-hired with the aid of FSG as head of football after a profitable spell as Liverpool sporting director, it’s difficult to understand whether there were any sort of lessons to be taken from such a game.
Certainly, this fit was once now not indicative of the place the squad is at. The Guardian says that Edwards may want to only ‘smile in utter disbelief’; the man who performed a key part in hiring Klopp in the first place, citing the bad good fortune suffered by way of Borussia Dortmund in the German’s ultimate season there, will now not read too an awful lot into a freak result from an isolated performance.
But while the truths on the Old Trafford turf got here back to terrible luck, horrific ending and bad decisions, Edwards will have been taking a greater holistic look. The role of accidents and fatigue will no longer be lost on him, even though Liverpool ought to have been in a position to overcome them.
For starters, the photo of a wasteful Liverpool attack is no longer complete besides bringing up the absence of Diogo Jota. Let’s no longer forget that before his untimely injury, he used to be being hailed as the biggest Anfield finisher of all time, ahead of Luis Suárez and Robbie Fowler.
Meanwhile, the Núñez error in the lead-up to the equalizer has already been mentioned. After the game, Klopp revealed that the Uruguayan used to be one of three players to pick out up knocks throughout the contest, along with Luis Díaz and Cody Gakpo. There can be little doubt that the squad is stretched paper-thin, with this modern day harm news only confirming how lots of a tightrope Liverpool is strolling as it tries to stay aggressive whilst down to the naked bones.
