5 talking points from Manchester United 1 – 4 Liverpool

#4 The Manchester United defense looked shaky

Darmian and the United defense had a poor show

And why not? Eric Bailly was initially on the substitutes bench when the team was announced, but was drafted in for Smalling just before the start of the game. United started with three at the back, and it was a strange back three. Bailly had Fosu-Mensah and Axel Tuanzebe for company, the inexperience of the youngsters was evident.

There was a lack of understanding between the three as is expected, since the three of them have rarely played in a back three together before. The clumsiness was clear from the start of the game, when Lee Grant had to stretch to deny Salah from opening the scoring and Herrera had to brilliantly clear the ball off the line.

In the second half, Fosu-Mensah and Tuanzebe were both caught ball watching as Sturridge capitalised to score Liverpool’s second goal. And then, some poor clearing and non-existent marking allowed Shaqiri to finish brilliantly to take the game out of United’s hand.

Lindelof will be coming back to this team after a fine World Cup, but you can see why United is linked to a host of defenders daily. Mourinho will have to find his correct center back pairing, and he has to do that fast.