Maybe it was appropriate that José Mourinho and his players stayed at a hotel named after the Titanic. Fill in your own jokes here. Or consider, perhaps, the gloating cries of “Don’t sack Mourinho”, heavy on irony, from Liverpool’s supporters on the day Jürgen Klopp’s team seized back control of a title race where their arch-rivals are barely even an afterthought. Xherdan Shaqiri came off the bench to make an instant impact with two second-half goals as Liverpool returned to the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Manchester United at Anfield. Liverpool took a deserved lead through Sadio Mane’s neat control and finish from a fine Fabinho assist (24), but Alisson was at fault for United’s equaliser as he dropped a cross into the path of Jesse Lingard, who finished with ease (33). Though United improved in the second half, Liverpool regained their lead through sub Shaqiri as his shot from 12 yards deflected off Ashley Young and in off the crossbar (73), just three minutes after the Swiss had come on.
For all the historic rivalry of this fixture it is the other team from along the East Lancs Road that should be uppermost in Liverpool’s thoughts now. Liverpool versus Manchester City is what matters. And United? They are just a memory. Mourinho’s team have conceded more goals in mid-December than they did throughout the whole of last season. They are 19 points off the top and one statistic in particular stood out: 36 shots for Liverpool, their most in any league fixture for two years. It could be years before United are title challengers again and, for a club with their ambitions, who could be surprised if the manager pays the price with his job? At any of his previous clubs it would probably have happened already. One certainty: Liverpool will enjoy rubbernecking in United’s direction. The league leaders were fortunate in one respect, that Xherdan Shaqiri’s second-half goals both took deflections before beating David de Gea in United’s goal.
Overall, however, who could say they were lucky given the balance of play, the long spells when they pinned their opponents back and the clear suspicion that, but for a dreadful mistake from Alisson, Liverpool’s goalkeeper, it would have been an even more straightforward victory?
Liverpool were winning 1-0, courtesy of Sadio Mané, before Alisson’s faux pas allowed Jesse Lingard to steal in for an equaliser that changed the complexion of the game. At 1-1 there was a considerable period when Liverpool looked unusually short of ideas. But it was an adventurous move from Klopp to replace Naby Keïta with Shaqiri in the 70th minute. The substitute scored twice within 10 minutes and Mourinho had to spend the remainder of the game listening to the crowd’s schadenfreude, with Ed Woodward, Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Alex Ferguson watching on from the stands. It is the worst points total for United at this stage of a season for 26 years – worse than anything that happened under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
