Jurgen Klopp's side registered 34 shots against their fierce rivals but, unlike last season, were unable to find their scoring touch
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Given that Liverpool could have consolidated their position at the top of the Premier League by beating Manchester United and moving six points ahead of Manchester City, it seems absurd to say that the eventual draw with Erik ten Hag’s side was a sign of how poorly Jurgen Klopp’s side have been playing of late.
But despite going into the weekend in top spot, a position that has now been taken by Arsenal, Liverpool had not been playing well.
Recent wins over Fulham and Crystal Palace required dramatic late winners, but the performances - as they have been for much of the season - were well below the quality of title winners.
Even a 2-0 win at Sheffield United was a pretty dull performance, toiling to victory and winning despite not playing well - something you can say is a sign of champions.
But eventually, you cannot continue to play poorly and continue to win.
Against one of the worst Manchester United teams to arrive at Anfield in recent times, Liverpool produced a performance in keeping with their recent form; pretty poor.
Anfield was expectant, its third-biggest-ever crowd and highest attendance since 1963, arrived with memories of the 7-0 thrashing here just nine months ago.
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There were 34 shots at goal from the home side, the most they’ve had - since such statistics were recorded - without scoring. But only one clear-cut chance was created.
Chances arrived for half a dozen different players from corners and free-kicks, but aside from Virgil van Dijk’s first-half header being tipped over by Andre Onana, Liverpool failed to test United’s under-pressure goalkeeper.
Players out of form
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Needing a late winner, Jurgen Klopp took off record signing Darwin Nunez with 12 minutes to go - a sign of how peripheral the Uruguayan had been but also how poor Liverpool’s service for their forward was.
Worryingly for Klopp, Liverpool’s forwards have scored just one goal in the last five league games.
With Diogo Jota sidelined, Luis Diaz continues to be less and less effective - a shadow of the player he was before serious injury last season, Nunez hasn’t scored a league goal in over two months, and Cody Gakpo’s last league goal was back in September.
Nunez, Diaz and Gakpo combined have fewer goals than Salah has this season, leaving a reliance on the Egyptian to provide the goals in attack.
“The decisive stuff, the scoring part, was not there,” analysed Klopp post-match. “In some moments we were not lucky [and] in others not calm enough
Beyond the attacking struggles, Dominik Szoboszlai is another player out of form for his club. The 23-year-old has struggled in recent weeks and was withdrawn on the hour after what was a glaringly disappointing showing.
The Hungarian started his season very impressively but seems to be struggling with playing such a key role in the intensity of this team. He looks like a player who needs to rested at the moment and less relied upon to play start every game.
Asked about Szoboszlai’s form post-match, Klopp insisted “not at all” [had the No.8 lost form in recent weeks]. But it wouldn’t be Klopp’s nature to say anything otherwise.
Concern or optimism?
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Truth is, you can count on one hand how many times Liverpool have played well this season.
Now, that can be taken one of two ways. On the one hand, imagine how good Liverpool could be if and when they start playing well.
And the other side is, what if the form this is the best this Liverpool can actually perform? What if this has been Liverpool at their best?
That would point at a top four challenge being the likely outcome this season, which, in reality, is what was expected before the season began.
Asked about it potentially being the most open title race in years, Klopp said of his team’s chances: “Nobody expected us, I didn’t really think about it [at title challenge], now we are we are.
“We are exactly where we belong because of the performances we had.
“If you talk about us and say the performances aren’t convincing, it’s my job to see where we can improve.”
With Arsenal at Anfield next weekend, we may find out which of those two options is the likely outcome for Liverpool this season.
Matt Ladson is the co-founder and editor of This Is Anfield, the independent Liverpool news and comment website, and covers all areas of the Reds for FourFourTwo – including transfer analysis, interviews, title wins and European trophies. As well as writing about Liverpool for FourFourTwo he also contributes to other titles including Yahoo and Bleacher Report. He is a lifelong fan of the Reds.
