Manchester United suffered a disappointing 3-0 loss to archrivals Liverpool at Old Trafford, in what turned out to be a forgettable day for the team. The goals were scored by Luis Diaz, who found the net twice in the first half, and Mohamed Salah, who has consistently posed a challenge for us in past matches.
VAR ruled out Trent Alexander-Arnold's early goal. Despite showcasing our new signing Manuel Ugarte to the fans before the game and fielding newcomers Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee, both acquired from Bayern Munich over the summer, the outcome was not what we had anticipated.
DIAZ DOUBLES DENTS REDS' BID IN FIRST HALF
Despite our passionate support, United made a lively start without troubling Alisson in the visitors' goal.
The opening goal appeared out of nowhere as Ryan Gravenberch advanced into space to feed Diaz and his cross bounced off Salah before Alexander-Arnold took his shot. The ball was over the line before Diogo Dalot's intervention and the England defender celebrated by kissing the TV camera. However, his joy was premature on this occasion, since VAR ruled Salah was offside when Diaz centred.
Even so, Erik ten Hag's side had a let off and things were pretty even for a short while afterwards. Even though the match was entertaining, the Merseysiders made the breakthrough on 35 minutes. Gravenberch intercepted Casemiro's pass and triggered a five-on-three situation. Salah was picked out by Gravenberch, whose cross on the run was nodded in by Diaz at the far post, beating Dominik Szoboszlai to it.
After Bruno Fernandes' cross rebounded to Virgil van Dijk, Noussair Mazraoui's strike went through his legs, but there were white shirts on hand to clear it.
A free kick was expected to be awarded in the 42nd minute, when Casemiro was felled by Diaz. As soon as referee Anthony Taylor waved play on, Salah provided an assist for Diaz's first-time finish past Andre Onana's left goal. Despite Diaz getting a touch on the ball during the challenge, there was no suggestion that VAR would intervene.
SECOND HALF - A LONG 45 MINUTES FOR UNITED
At halftime, Toby Collyer replaced Casemiro to make his Premier League debut, and he nodded down for Zirkzee to fire in a shot that Alisson palmed away.
Even though the flag was up for offside in any case, Alexander-Arnold's shot was blocked by De Ligt, a third goal seconds later did put the result beyond doubt. Szoboszlai teed Salah up for a clinical finish beyond Onana's dive after outmuscled by Alexis MacAlllister.
Within a few minutes, Salah had two further chances, firing over the top and seeing a shot deflected off Dalot wide.
Both of Zikzee's chances to reduce the deficit were created by Marcus Rashford, but Alisson's smart save kept his header out, and his touch, on the stretch, failed to connect. As a result of those attempts, Liverpool substitute Cody Gakpo headed wide, and Reds defender Lisandro Martinez drew an ambitious overhead kick from Amad's centre not far away.
One of the few bright spots on a disappointing day at Old Trafford was Arne Slot's side winning three out of three.
United's next match is at Southampton on 14 September, following an international break.
Man Utd showed a poor performance that is what the report should say , 😀
