Image Credit: Evening Standard
By Lee Clow 20 October 2019 | Premier League
Adam Lallana scored his first goal since May 2017 to earn a point for Liverpool against great rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Liverpool who went into the game looking for a 18th successive league win went behind to Marcus Rashford’s goal late in the first half but eventually found themselves level five minutes before time thanks to Adam Lallana, in what was a poor performance by the league leaders. The draw means Manchester United are the first team to take points off Liverpool this season.
Manchester United started the game brightly with Liverpool looking sloppy and poor but no team had any clear-cut chances to take the lead. Scott McTominay came close for United and Roberto Firmino tested David De Gea but it wasn’t until the 36th minute until the deadlock was broken.
Victor Lindelöf won back the ball from Divock Origi before releasing Daniel James who rushed down the right and produced a marvellous cross for Rashford to tap home the opener for United.
Huge cheers filled the ground by the United fans but there were cries from the Liverpool faithful who adjudged Lindelöf to have fouled Origi in the build-up to Rashford’s goal. VAR did review the challenge, but the officials did not deem it to be a foul and confirmed the goal much to the annoyance of the Liverpool fans, players and coaching staff.
Following the goal, Liverpool stepped up their game as they searched for an immediate equaliser and they thought they had it nine minutes later when Sadio Mane placed the ball in the back of the net. But once again VAR stepped in and had their say, stating Mane had controlled the long ball using his arm moments before scoring. The decision was met by more celebrations by the home crowd who had the new technology benefit their team twice today.
Going into the break, the home side had the lead with Liverpool’s potential record equalling 18 straight Premier League wins on the line.
After the interval, Liverpool changed their system, and this allowed them to take control of the game and start creating more chances for the equaliser. United were penned back for much of the half and this forced them to play on the counterattack. Rashford had a chance to make it 2-0 after 75 minutes but his long-range effort just fell wide of the post.
With the game fading away, it looked like United were going to seal the result and continue Liverpool’s poor record at Old Trafford under the management of Jurgen Klopp. However, five minutes before time, Liverpool did find their equaliser and it came through one of their unlikely sources.
Substitute, Adam Lallana, who had not scored for Liverpool since May 2017 got on the end of Andy Robertson’s ball across the box to tap home Liverpool’s equaliser and cement their unbeaten start of the season. The goal was met by huge cheers by the Liverpool fans and stunned silence by the home fans who now were rattled in the fear that Liverpool would go and win the game.
The home fans nightmare almost came true in the dying minutes as Liverpool came inches away from scoring. Substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain swivelled on the edge of the area before unleashing a left footed strike towards the goal which just missed by a whisker.
As the final whilst blew, the home fans blew a sigh of relief as their team earned a valuable point against the league’s top dogs. The result moves United into 13th, seven points off the top four, while Liverpool see their lead at the top cut to six points following Manchester City's 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
After the game, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke on how pleased he was with his sides performance as well as praising the fans in the stadium: "We got a great response from the boys and we know we have a team that will work for each other with a great attitude and atmosphere in there...Maybe this will turn the season because they're disappointed in the dressing room because they feel we should have won and that's a good sign for a manager to see. Our fans, they showed again that they can see what's happening and we will get there."
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was quick to share and discuss his views on the incidents involving VAR in the game, he said: "They were better than us and defended well, but in the end they scored a goal that shows all the problems with VAR. Mr Atkinson let the game run on because that is the protocol of VAR, and VAR shows there was contact and it was a foul. But we couldn't change that. They still had 60 or 70 yards to run to score the goal, but it's not cool…We then scored a goal that was disallowed. Pretty much everything went against us today, but we still didn't lose. We deserved the point, 100 per cent."
What’s next?
Both teams return to European action next as Manchester United travel to Partizan Belgrade on Thursday in the Europa League, while Liverpool travel to Gent on Wednesday in the Champions League.
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