The 32-year-old scored a late winner to give Man Utd their first victory at Anfield in nine years
Having put the ball in the bottom corner to win this biggest of Premier League matches, Harry Maguire also put it well.
“A long time coming,” he exhaled, exhausted but victorious. Maguire could have been referring to any number of elements in this 2-1 Manchester United victory over Liverpool - not least the lateness of the goal - but there are some parts he will feel more keenly than most. Most pointed out, after the game, was how close he came to a similar moment last season.
Most pointed, however, was what this meant for him.
Having been at Old Trafford since 2019, the 32-year-old has lived through some of the club’s worst lows, many of them against this very opposition. Some of the defeats at this stadium have been utterly humiliating. Through that, Maguire himself has been one of United’s most criticised and pilloried figures, often a figure of fun.
And yet there he is, persevering and standing tall, to also rise above it all and go for it. With that match-winning header, Maguire showed conviction, and character.
The goal was all the more important because it arrived at just the moment when it looked like the match was shifting.
Maguire got in the way. He persevered. He forced his team through.
That emphasised many admirable elements of this United performance, especially their attacking intensity. The latter has certainly been a long time coming, and the urgency of Bryan Mbuemo and Matheus Cunha was influential.
It’s also entirely fair to say they needed that resolve; that perseverance.
On another day, after all, this could have been a very different result. It could even have been something closer to one of those humiliating United defeats.
Many at United might rightly say this is just the flip side of results that have gone against them this season, where the data didn’t translate into results in the way they should. They got luck that deserted them elsewhere.
That happens. That’s also why that perseverance is all the more important, to get you through such moments.
Here, Liverpool certainly had enough chances. Cody Gakpo hit the frame of the goal three times. Mohammed Salah probably should have scored twice, with one of them a miss that you just wouldn’t have imagined even six months ago. Alexander Isak then had an opportunity that he wouldn’t even have had to think about six months ago.
It’s hard not to think some of those misses were a consequence of the confidence crisis afflicting the team right now; that anxiety that grips when you know you have to do it to prevent even greater pressure. That almost imperceptible difference of application can bring a crucial difference in inches, that leads to misses rather than goals, and defeats rather than wins.
It’s why Liverpool can have some reassurance about the current run, but also have a lot of work to do.
The confidence crisis comes from the fact the team doesn’t work as it should. They can create chances, sure, but the whole is not right.
Arne Slot and the Liverpool hierarchy felt they had to evolve and make significant changes in the summer, but it probably hasn’t gone as expected.
Of Liverpool’s five fit major signings - the promising Giovani Leoni is injured - only one looks to have properly adapted, and he didn’t even start.
Hugo Ekitike was left on the bench at the expense of Isak, who really just doesn’t look ready. In contrast to Maguire, the Swede showed no conviction in his big chance.
On the other side, what a save from Senne Lammens. Offering a moment like that in a match like this will be crucial to the young goalkeeper’s own adaptation. It is almost the total opposite to Andre Onana’s initial start to life at United, which can genuinely make an immense difference for a position that is so exposed. Lammens already radiates assurance.
So far, only Ekitike of Liverpool’s new players really shows that. It is not a coincidence that Gakpo’s initial equaliser arrived after he came on.
Slot made a mistake not starting Ekitike, especially given Isak’s recent form. This isn’t to say that should be indefinite, and many have already been pointing out how Isak did actually train during the summer. There’s still a massive difference between training on your own and getting to work with a sophisticated new side who are themselves introducing a new approach.
That approach simultaneously seems to be having a debilitating effect on Salah, who often finds himself on the fringes of matches. When he finally comes inside, he doesn’t look sharp.
There’s a fog around the whole team - even Virgil van Dijk, who was partly at fault for Mbuemo’s brilliant opening goal. The centre-half himself described the danger of “a negative spiral”.
Liverpool just need a result now, some end product, a decisive edge. And yet there may be something wider.
It only adds another narrative strand to the match that both managers had been talking about set-pieces lately. While Ruben Amorim had been mentioning the need to start using them, Slot had been talking about all the other clubs using them - not his own.
There is a belief at Anfield that, while Liverpool have leaned towards individual talent in this wider tactical shift in the Premier League, many of their rivals have gone from set-pieces. Hence you can generally have the better of the flow of a game, but still get done by its hard edges.
The hope at Liverpool is that, when their players have properly adapted, they will render all that irrelevant; they will be able to beat teams in open play. That might happen. On the evidence so far, though, it might be a longer time coming than anticipated.
Maguire and his manager know well how that feels. This 2-1 win represented the first time that Amorim has won successive Premier League matches at United.
It’s been almost a year, but that might make this moment all the more significant, especially in terms of psychological effect.
This might not have been United as Amorim idealises, but it had elements he will love. There was attacking urgency driven by Cunha and Mbuemo, who look unencumbered by the club’s recent problems. They occupy a crucial tactical role in carrying the ball up the pitch, and that forms a crucial emotional role in carrying the team through difficult moments.
From that, there’s perseverance. And there is Maguire.
Category: General Sports
