Manchester United made a huge comeback in the Premier League, defeating archrivals Liverpool 2-1 despite the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and defender Harry Maguire.
Goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford helped Manchester United bounce back from a shaky start to the season, with this win against Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Mohamed Salah scored a late consolation goal for Liverpool, but the victory vindicates United manager Erik ten Hag as he attempts to turn around a club in disarray.
Manchester United scored two goals against all odds, while Liverpool was the dominant team on the field, controlling the match and dominating their opponents for the majority of the game.
United dominated the games against Brighton and Brentford, but their opponents scored more goals, defeating the Merseysiders in the first two.
Liverpool controlled 70% of the game this time but failed to win. This is what the Premier League football is about.
In the first half, Liverpool had a golden opportunity. The scrambling Manchester United defence panicked during the Liverpool attack, with Bruno Fernandes almost scoring against his own team, but the ball smashed against a Utd player, Martinez, on the line, allowing the ball to go back into play.
Before the match start, around 10,000 supporters gathered outside Old Trafford in an attempt to force long-term change at Manchester United.
They were protesting against the Glazer family’s ownership. But Erik ten Hag demonstrated that he could shake things up much sooner once the teams were announced.
Dropping Ronaldo and captain Maguire in a match of such magnitude shows leadership, says pundits and winning against all odds against at team that scored 9 goals against them in the last season is a gambit.
The question now is for how long can Ten Hag keep Ronaldo on the bench and when will he really deal with the Maguire situation? Fans across the globe want to see more of Ronaldo and less of Maguire.
A 10 year comparison between Manchester United and Liverpool
This decade worth of comparison between the two is striking as one is rising, while the other is declining. Liverpool is currently stagnating in the second half of the table after being done with two games, but Man U is among the bottom of the Premier League ranks and people are not as surprised.
Man U’s previous manager, Sir Alex Ferguson had uplifted the club when he was in charge, and they were strong enough that people back then could see no wrong with the club. Their last title win was in 2013 which was still under the leadership of Ferguson.
Tonight, Man U and Liverpool are going to have an all out match with each other at Old Trafford and this season has been difficult so far for the two. Weirdly, that’s the only similarity the two big named teams have.
Man U has since then won the Europa League, the FA Cup and the League Cup, which were all more or less five years ago. Liverpool on the other hand has massively improved since their current leader Jurgen Klopp’s entrance in 2015.
Klopp has helped Liverpool win their first championship within the last 30 years. They furthermore have made three appearances in the finals of the Champions League. Furthermore, they have won the European cup a number of times. This is on top of the other cups they have won recently thanks to the leadership of Klopp.
Tonight’s game has sparked debates on Twitter on who would win this upcoming match and who would go home as the loser. Man U fans are claiming that they’ll beat Liverpool with a 4-1 score.
Others replied with the current stats ranking of the clubs, which shows Liverpool ranking at number 13 and Man U ranks at 20. Liverpool fans of course disagreed with the statement, and another had placed a reply under the initial tweet showing Liverpool beating Man U 5-0 in a previous match.
It is pretty clear that Man U is currently going through a crisis, with a lack of control from their current coach, Erik ten Hag. Inheriting a team from one of the best managers they have ever seen is not a good look to the players and that may cause a rift among them behind closed doors.
This is also coupled with the fact that the Glazers are not willing to add more funds in order for Erik to commission new players for his non performing team. As stated before, with Cristiano Ronaldo requesting to leave the team after playing for several years shows the discontent from within.
Is Ten Hag trying to tame Ronaldo at his own expense?
Manchester United were blessed last season with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo who scored more goals than the other stars at the club in half a season but is the new manager, Erik Ten Hag playing a dangerous game of taming Ronaldo?
If that is the case, it risks being a slippery road both for the club and for Ten Hag because putting Ronaldo out of action means Manchester United is not interested in the superstar.
Watching the match and video clips from YouTube will show that there might be some tensions among the players.
A video showing Ronaldo getting on the field to replace marcus Rashford during the Liverpool game could signal a cold is brewing between both players.
Rashford did not show any love or care for Ronaldo when he stepped out of the field, some say.
With the UK media being pitiless towards Ronaldo, attacking him almost everyday for some reason, there appears to be a sudden change of heart at the top of the management team at Manchester United.
While the fans are more than happy to get Ronaldo on the pitch to try score the amazing goals and deliver great passes to his teammates, the management under Ten Hag is playing a different ball game.
All the pundits across the EPL are asking why did Ten Hag leave Ronaldo on the bench for 86 minutes before he allowed the superstar to set foot on the Old Trafford ground against Liverpool.
Ten Hag’s answers are as vague as incomprehensible. But it might be because of the aforementioned friction among players.
There is a very popular video on Instagram in which a former superstart at Man Utd, the Frenchman Patrice Evra, dismisses claims that Marcus Rashfod is as good as Ronaldo.
“Nobody should ever ask such a question. This player cannot even touch the ankle of Ronaldo,” says a clearly offended Evra when asked to play thePast & present ?who would you pick? comparison game.
He says what we can compare is the Ronaldo of today and the Ronaldo then, that is when the latter was playing for Man Utd before he left for Real Madrid.
The ex-French International is recognized as one of the best left-backs in the world and is only rivalled by Chelsea and England’s Ashley Cole.
Ronaldo at 37 is probably slower than before but he is as deadly as ever and any team in the world would want to have him in their frontline to kick the ball in the net.
This is what is missing at Man Utd, that is a great player who can kick the ball in the net every time he gets the chance. But wait a minute? Is Ronaldo not playing for Manchester United?
Perhaps Ten Hag is not aware of Ronaldo’s talents or he is so pissed-off as coach that Ronaldo was given exclusive treatment during the lame pre-season games?
It is an interesting drama that is unfolding at the struggling Manchester club where Sir Alex Fergusson is clearly in favour of Ronaldo staying and playing at the club to save it, perhaps, from relegation this season.
But Sir ETH seems adamant that he will have to tame Ronaldo who was seen encouraging the team when they scored against Liverpool.
Ten Hag risks the worst fate at Man Utd if he continues to show that he prefers some players to others.
After a bumpy start earlier this season, Manchester United has seemed to recover from their losses. The 4-0 loss against Brentford has affected the club greatly and scrutiny towards their manager Erik ten Hag has been vicious.
Ten Hag admitted that he has learnt his lesson and has united the team. Since Ferguson left, the club has seen a drastic decline and it is hopeful if Ten Hag can maintain this winning streak.
Furthermore, Ten Hag has focused thoroughly on the fundamental parts of football since then and has succeeded against Southampton. His “lesson learnt” strategy worked for the team and is expecting a major shift for their upcoming matches.
Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay stated ‘The Brentford game was a big reality check,’
‘It takes a lot of balls to come back from that as a team, with all the criticism every player gets.’
The need to assist players such as Martinez, McTominay and Varane were helpful in them winning lately.
McTominay told the press, ‘We can’t have any dips again.’
‘We needed to bounce back. We needed that fire inside. As soon as that fire goes out, we are in trouble. We have to keep that fire together.
‘Team spirit is the most important thing and if we have good team spirit, we will go far. If we don’t and it goes easy, and we are easy on each other then it might not go so far.’
A former striker for the team, Dwight Yorke applauded the current manager for deciding the team’s future and strategy wisely. One of said strategies were, when Mohamed Salah scored to give the team a two-goal lead against Liverpool, Sancho and Rashford both scored either side to give United the lead.
Following that, on Saturday, the game against Southampton, United won 1-0. The winning goal was from Bruno Fernandes during the second half of the game.
All of this is due to the manager making wiser decisions in placing his players and making them work together better.
Friendly reminder that Manchester United are winning the premier league this season…
Now, with the winning streak, Manchester United fans decided to take their thoughts and views to Twitter. One user tweeted “Friendly reminder that Manchester United is winning the Premier League this season.”
Of course the tweet received some backlash, notably an Arsenal fan saying “have you met Arsenal?” The rest of the comments online are supporting the club in their strategic change and recovery from heavy losses.
Erik Ten Hag’s drama with Cristiano Ronaldo hits a breaking point
Just after a story on Ronaldo and his sisters defending him against Ten Hag for making bad decisions of the world renown player, new drama has happened between the two. It has been a long sad story that many fans have observed as it is quite obvious that Ten Hag does not favour Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo stormed down the tunnel before the final whistle for Manchester United’s victory over Tottenham on 19th October. Erik Ten Hag, United’s questionable manager, claimed that he would “deal” with the all beloved star.
United has defeated the title contenders at their home base, and it’s thanks to Bruno Fernandes and Fred. Ironically, the duo was recently criticised massively among United fans. Popular opinions over this duo are not favourable regardless of their recent win.
Ronaldo has been benched for most of the games, which includes this last game against Tottenham. He has only scored two goals for the Premier League all year. It appears that Ten Hag either has a vendetta against him or that he does not know how to utilise a well prized asset in his team.
Marcus Rashford took his position in the front, and United went on to produce their strongest effort under Ten Hag. Regardless of their victory, Ronaldo for obvious reasons stated above, was not happy and left the field in the 88th minute.
Video footage showing Ronaldo walking down the sidelines while keeping track of what’s happening behind him, he removed his bib and long-sleeved training top.
It appears in the footage that Ronaldo left the field quietly with dignity and grace, regardless of feeling anger and disappointment. Ten Hag was squandering and did not know how to respond to the situation other than informing the press that he will personally speak to Ronaldo on his own.
“He was there, I saw him but I didn’t speak. I will deal with that tomorrow, not today. We’re celebrating this victory and now we have to recover and play another big game on Saturday, Chelsea. The Premier League, so exciting,” Ten Hag told the press.
“I think you see today we developed and you can see in the last weeks we are growing in the season and becoming more proactive in and out of possession. First you get organisation in and out of possession, then you dictate the intensity and that is what we did today.
“To be fair, I did not expect it before because Spurs have been solid this season, it was a magnificent performance and I hope we set a new base for the season. There were so many things that were good, but in possession, the switch of play and how we dictated the play and created chances.”
Netizen’s reaction towards the Ten Hag and Ronaldo drama
Netizens have a wide variety of opinions when it comes to this whole ordeal. One stating that Ronaldo is bigger and better than Manchester United. This angered hardcore Manchester United fans as they claimed that no player is bigger than a club.
Ronaldo fans criticised Manchester United fans as he turned down the offer to play for Man City only to be underutilised and gawked at by fans. “Respect and loyalty doesn’t mean anything in today’s world.” This statement is nothing but the truth, even for the world outside of football.
“This is where pure loyalty gets you, Ronaldo does not deserve this.” Some are criticising Ronaldo for his age and competition with Lionel Messi. They claim that at age 37 he should back down and play less intensive games, however, at that age he is still winning awards regardless of him being clamped down.
Some United fans are not happy that Ronaldo got the most attention for leaving early when the team played well. In fact that statement alone proves that sometimes, especially in the media, a player can be bigger than a team.
Erik ten Hag’s response after Manchester United is destroyed
Manchester City has destroyed Erik Ten Hag and Manchester United in a single match that showed why City is the best among the Manchester clubs now.
After Erik ten Hag’s famed team got a beating that they did not foresee, Manchester United’s Ten hag was scrutinised for not placing Cristiano Ronaldo on the field. He insisted on leaving Ronaldo out of this to not further damage the 37-year-old’s career.
“I wouldn’t bring him in out of respect for Cristiano, for his big career,” Ten Hag told ESPN.
“The other thing was the advantage that I could bring on Anthony Martial. He needs the minutes, but I don’t want to point it out like that.”
“It’s quite simple, it’s a lack of belief,” Ten Hag added.
“When you don’t believe on the pitch, then you can’t win games; that is unacceptable. We get undisciplined at following rules and you get hammered, that’s happened today.
“All the credit to City, but it’s nothing to do with City, our performance was not good. It had to do with the belief as individuals and as a team.
“From the first minute I felt it, and at half-time we changed things and we changed our attitude.
“In this moment I can’t think about the positives. We let our fans down, we let ourselves down and we’re hugely disappointed.”
Netizen’s response to the whole debacle
On Twitter, it was shared that Man United was getting eaten alive by Haaland and other Man City players. A post was made by Goal showing a photograph of Pep Guardiola smiling. Netizens’ response to the tweet was showing a video of a wrestling match with a big guy (representative of Haaland) and United’s defence (a person quarter the size of the opponent).
Others were showing footage of United fans leaving the stadium in droves with a statement “well they’ve seen enough.” Another netizen stated that many United fans claim their losses were due to Ronaldo not being there, but in reality he was there for a 4-0 beating.
There was a meme posted with two United players G. Jesus and Martinelli together, with both number 9 and 11 standing next to each other. The user then captioned the tweet with “somebody call 911.” This is referenced to the burn that Manchester United suffered.
More stories on Ten Hag and Manchester United can be found here.
