The Reds suddenly rediscovered who they were and what they could really be capable of when out of the blue they obliterated their rivals either side of half-time to leave the Red Devils utterly shell-shocked and shaken to the core as the dandy trio of Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah all all strutted in to net braces, and Roberto Firmino also getting one in as he laid the final icing on the cake.
It all began when Diogo Dalot strayed a tad too far. It also didn’t help when Bruno Fernandes lost his cool, as he often did in the past.
For 10 minutes either side of half-time Liverpool read out the riot act to a shell-shocked Manchester United side to truly rediscover themselves again most joyously and let their rivals know that it would most certainly require more than a few good results – with an infuriated Roy Keanes having stated that the Red Devils had been let off by teams in the last few matches and won only due to that – and a League Cup before they could truly claim to be back on their feet and on the route to to the glories of yonder years. Keane also went on to say that he never believed United had gotten anywhere near to their best despite their encouraging results of late.
Ten Hag’s side could have been forgiven in the first 42 minutes iof they actually thought they were actually holding onto their own in keeping level with their rivals as it had been a pretty even affair then, while truthfully it was quite a drab affair evidently often short on quality in the key areas, dictated by a lack of control from both sides.
The action seemed to be a bit thick down the Liverpool left where Andy Robertson seemed to be having a great time engaging in a running battle with Antony, which kind of unsettled the Brazilian more than he would have liked to let on. Meanwhile Jurgen Klopp was practising his hypnotic gaze glaring at referee Andy Madley for not having awarded a foul to Mo Salah after he was pounced on by Lisandro Martinez. Tempers were obviously a bit frayed, but the surface remained unperturbed until then.
Then senor Diego Dalot decided to take a walk on the wild side that unfortunately went too far astray.
An alert Robertson pounced on the opportunity to play his superb pass inside a snoozing Fred, and a game Cody Gakpo rapidly cut inside to unleash a superb finish right to seal the deal.
Unfortunately for the Red Devils, from that moment on, there was only one team that could emerge the winner of this game, the one side who hardly any would place bets on to take the game away from their shell-shocked visitors this season based on their current stiff drop in form so far.
Without wanting to add insult to injury, United were lucky in truth lucky that half-time came when it did, as the much-trumpeted change of mindset, chest-thumping and regathering of themselves for Erik ten Hag’s side never arrived this match.
Liverpool came upon them like a swarm of killer bees smelling only sweet nectar with the front triumvirate of Salah, Gakpo and Nunez everywhere as United were rooted to the ground in fear.
Luke Shaw, Casemiro and a now much-humbled Wout Weghorst all could, and should, have dealt with the ball as it menacingly snaked toward the United goal with venomous intent, but suddenly it was already at the feet of Harvey Elliott and, before one could say Jumping Jack Flash, it was on Nunez’s head. 2-0, needless to say.
And, three minutes later, even better entertainment with a footloose and fancy-free Salah shuffling down the right and Gakpo suddenly appearing, resulting in an absolutely gorgeous finish. And the shocking thing was that United’s defence were nowhere to be seen.
In a desperate effort to fend off the embarrassment, the visitors then surged forward, with Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes trying to lead the charge, although the latter’s anger at referee Madley made a much better impression than his performance as he first failed to get a corner and then fumed with the Liverpool fans after he was beaten to the ball by a slipping Alisson.
With the final damage all but done, a disgraced United aimlessly meandered their way through the remainder of a game in which they embarrassingly shipped another four goals, with the thunderous reception from the stadium for each one celebrated louder than the previous one.
Those insane 10 minutes on both sides of half time made everything come alive and happen again for a Liverpool side and their gaffer who much needed this morale-booster.
But for the Red Devils and their new gaffer – one can’t help but wonder how long it would take for them to recover from this bombarding of their newly-reconstructed composure and egos.