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Ruben Amorim has back-to-back wins in the Premier League for the first time in his 12 months in charge at Manchester United, and what a place to do it.
United’s first win at Anfield in nearly a decade was also the biggest win of Amorim’s turbulent reign at Old Trafford. The hope now is that his team can finally kick on and leave a year of uncertainty and inconsistency behind them.
Questions were asked of Amorim’s decision to leave out Benjamin Sesko and try to get at Liverpool with pace rather than power, and pick Harry Maguire for his aerial dominance. Both decisions were vindicated as Bryan Mbeumo fired United ahead in the opening seconds, and Maguire headed a late winner.
Daily Mail Sport's Chris Wheeler was at Anfield to bring you the five things we learned.
United’s first win at Anfield in nearly a decade was also the biggest victory of Amorim’s tenure
Ruben’s plan pays off
There were raised eyebrows when the team sheets dropped and Sesko was on the bench despite scoring in his previous two games.
Even more so because United had taken a more direct route to goal in the win over Sunderland last time out, and Amorim had hinted beforehand that they would do the same again.
Instead, he left the Slovenian on the bench for an hour – claiming that high balls would play into the hands of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate – and went with a more fluid front three of Matheus Cunha, Mbeumo and Mason Mount.
‘Konate and Van Dijk like confrontation in the air, so we will try to give them different things to try to win the game,’ said Amorim before kick-off.
He could never have dreamt his plan would work so quickly. Mbeumo gave Van Dijk problems from the moment he ran in behind the Liverpool captain to score after one minute, latching onto Amad Diallo’s pass to score.
The Cameroon international and Diallo are developing a potent partnership down the right, even though it does leave United a little vulnerable defensively on that side.
Diallo was involved in an absorbing duel with Cody Gakpo, although it could have been very different had Liverpool’s goal scorer converted another one of his many chances.
Cunha was excellent too. One of the reasons United signed the Brazilian was because he has the character to rise to occasions like these, and he did just that at Anfield.
He always wanted the ball and to take the game to Liverpool, easing the pressure on his team while Arne Slot’s side were throwing everything at United.
Cameroon international Mbeumo and Diallo are developing a potent partnership down the right
Questions were asked of Amorim’s decision to leave out Benjamin Sesko and try to get at Liverpool with pace rather than power, and pick Harry Maguire for his aerial dominance
Maguire’s the head boy
Amorim's other big call was to play Maguire in place of Leny Yoro, which raised concerns over United’s lack of pace at the back in the face of an expected Liverpool onslaught.
But his thinking was to draw on Maguire’s dominance in the air to defend United’s goal and, as it turned out, score the winner at the other end.
‘Harry Maguire has a lot of experience and they (Liverpool) have a lot of crosses,’ said the United boss. ‘He gives more power in set-pieces and that is important in the Premier League nowadays.'
Amorim’s faith in Maguire was rewarded with a man-of-the-match performance as he led the defensive effort and then headed home in the 84th minute at the same end where he missed a huge late chance in United’s 2-2 draw at Anfield in January.
Amorim's faith in Maguire was rewarded when the defender headed home in the 84th minute
Cool Lammens rides his luck
New goalkeeper Senne Lammens couldn’t have asked for a more hostile environment to play his first away game for United, two weeks after making an excellent debut against Sunderland at Old Trafford.
The young Belgian certainly rode his luck at times as Gakpo alone hit the post three times, twice in the first half and once in the second.
The Dutchman was also guilty of a glaring miss when he headed wide from Jeremie Frimpong’s cross, and Mo Salah of all people fired well wide as he failed to improve his incredible record of 16 goals in the previous 17 games against United.
But Lammens looked composed in the white-hot atmosphere of Anfield and came up with a couple of big saves, notably when he stood strong to keep out Alexander Isak’s shot with his left foot when Liverpool’s £125million was through on goal.
Lammens had another positive showing in the white-hot environment of Liverpool's ground
Amorim heeds red flags
Amorim moved quickly to replace Casemiro after the Brazilian was booked for a tired challenge on Salah just before the hour mark, having travelled back from a trip to the Far East with Brazil during the international break.
Diallo came off at the same time shortly after getting a yellow card for a challenge on Gakpo, Amorim realising the danger of having to face a desperate Liverpool with 10 men if either player was sent off.
Did he wait too long to make more changes after Slot’s triple substitution was finally rewarded with an equaliser? Possibly, but the result ultimately vindicated his tactics.
Amorim acted quickly to avoid facing a desperate Liverpool side with 10 men by hooking Diallo
Can we play you every week?
Clearly the challenge for United now will be to build on this win after so many false dawns under Amorim and his predecessor Erik ten Hag.
It isn’t only a question of having the same mentality and motivation against other Premier League clubs as they do against Liverpool, or handling the expectation of winning against so-called smaller clubs, as Amorim suggested on the eve of this game.
This is still a United team that is more effective in transition and needs to be better at breaking teams down.
Brighton are next up at Old Trafford, followed by a trip to struggling Nottingham Forest, so it will be interesting to see how United follow up this win.
