Manchester United pulled an awakening moment as they won, convincingly, against Liverpool. Watching the match live and a time afterward, I have a few things to say. So, let's get into it and not waste more time.

Virgil Van Dijk's Mistake

If there's one player in Liverpool who's having a bad season visually, it would be Van Dijk. First was the penalty he gave to Fulham and now giving Sancho a good distance to pick where to shoot while standing there after Milner closed the other corner for Sancho to shoot.

I am Virgil's biggest defender and I do believe that his contradictors do overplay his mistakes, but let's be honest, this was a big and naive mistake. Van Dijk needed to be braver against Sancho.

Van Dijk's style is actually usually the best and today we saw one of the few examples where it wasn't.

Cristiano on the Bench

An hour before the match I saw a tweet by Piers Morgan complaining about ten Hag benching Cristiano Ronaldo

https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1561779403796905986?s=20&t=Ahkg88xlQGToGJeffM4bDg

And while this has been a theme for Piers Morgan lately, one I partly answered in Why No One Wants Cristiano Ronaldo, it should be said that this benching is normal. It's not normal because of the negative media attention or atmosphere people attribute to Cristiano. But, simply because it was a tactical decision.

For Manchester United to keep up with Liverpool they need to have as much movement on and off the ball as possible, movement that Cristiano simply can't provide. They needed that movement to handle Liverpool's pressure and to transition from attack to defense and vice versa. The win makes this easier to say, but it was the correct decision regardless.

The Importance of This Win for Manchester United

Ten Hag brought in more defensive and tactical players to keep his win, going against his usual style shows the importance of this win. The same can be said about the players as they played as their lives depended on this win. It's not often we see a team more intensely playing than Liverpool and we have today. Everyone was making sacrifices to make the win possible.

I wouldn't be surprised if they lose against Southampton but this is a win that would give ten Hag some protection as he sets his style on the team.

Defense

There really isn't a nice way to say but Manchester United were better defensively without Maguire. Their shape was more synced, offensively and defensively.

On the other hand, Liverpool's defense was a mess. This doesn't only go to Van Dijk but the entire Liverpool team as Liverpool usually defend starting with their attackers. One pass was going through Liverpool's attack and midfield line.

The distances between Liverpool's lines are way too wide and strange to see. Their pressure tactic is off. Liverpool have a real problem with its system that is exasperated by the fact that the players aren't doing well individually. The latter point goes to Van Dijk, Salah, even Arnold and Robertson, and obviously Diaz is good but he is no Mane.

Liverpool Might Be Exposed

The idea of taking the ball to the winger, the winger making space for the full-back to cross might be memorized. Marco Silva and Patrick Vieira already showed that they have the ability to stop that with players of lesser quality. Liverpool might need to switch things a little. I don't see them doing much counting on the same style and just intensity.

Liverpool are stale in the midfield. Thiago Alcantara is a great player but Liverpool lack those game-changing midfielders, the kinds that Manchester City have. Liverpool's comeback against Barcelona came to be because Georginio Wijnaldum chose to be daring and outdid his own manager, Liverpool now lack that midfielder. It might be too soon for this judgment, but I believe they need that.

De Gea's Reaction

De Gea's calm attitude and confidence really shined through this game. This shows two things:

• The manager was able to deal with him and his mentality well after a game that would have ended with him on the bench.

• The keeper is responsive to the manager which shows that the players still believe in the manager.

Liverpool's Spirit

Liverpool still have the spirit. They might not be doing well tactically and they might not be as well-organized as before or have the weapons they had last season. But, Klopp's biggest weapon has always been that spirit and intensity. Since game week 1, we have seen Liverpool score thanks to that intensity so it's a positive sign that they still have it.

This gives Klopp and Liverpool the time to come back as the will to do so is very clear.

Manchester United's Pressure

Manchester United completely isolated Liverpool's defense. It takes commitment and effort to do so as even Pep Guardiola has failed to do that because it is something that only players that are fully focused can do. Yes, the ball still went to the Arnold, Elliott, and Salah trio, but after that, it wasn't possible to move it to the center/midfield and therefore switch side to the left wing.

That made Liverpool's offense very predictable as the same issue for Liverpool applied as they weren't able to move the ball from right to left.

In Conclusion

In the end, this was a match that is of vital importance to allow the club to finish the last days of the transfer market after they were joined by Casemiro with one or two signings seeming to be on the way. There's a spirit of hope after the game that fully depends on them performing the next game, otherwise, Manchester United are back to square 1.