Arne Slot has made Liverpool’s transition from the Jurgen Klopp era simply seamless, writes IAN LADYMAN after their dominant 3-0 win at Old Trafford

There have been some big Liverpool wins against Manchester United as the two biggest teams in England have travelled their vastly different roads over the last decade.

Eighteen months ago, for example, Liverpool won 7-0 at Anfield. Three seasons ago, it was 9-0 on aggregate over two Premier League games. A five at Old Trafford and a four at Anfield. In May 2021, Liverpool also plundered four on enemy territory.

So we know how this often goes. United — for all their huff and puff and talk of fresh starts and what appears to be some improvement off the field — are not in Liverpool’s class and haven’t been for an awful long time now.

This win, though, is the one that will perhaps mean the most to Liverpool supporters. They had seen the script before as their team outplayed and embarrassed United in front of 70,000 at Old Trafford. 

It’s not new to them, just as it is not to the United faithful who once again left humbled and forlorn for the exits with 10 minutes or more still to play.

The latest win over the Red Devils will mean most to Liverpool after their FA Cup loss in March

Erik ten Hag’s side simply aren’t in Liverpool’s league and haven’t been for a long time now

But context is everything and here, on another tumultuous and bitter day in Manchester, that was provided by the remarkable events of last season.

Jurgen Klopp’s team were running hot when they arrived here in March. They had recently won the Carabao Cup, scared the living daylights out of Manchester City at Anfield and scored 11 over two European games against Sparta Prague.

They dominated United once again that Spring day in the FA Cup but somehow lost 4-3. Three weeks later, they did it again in the Premier League but only managed to draw 2-2.

That was the beginning of the end for Klopp in his final season. A quest for four farewell trophies was reduced to one and United — for all their deficiencies and inadequacies — had played their part. Over the course of three games in league and Cup against United last season,

Liverpool mustered in excess of 60 shots and came away with two league draws and that crushing, numbing Cup defeat.

Things like that leave wounds in football and they are deep. Liverpool and their fanbase, for all that they may deny it, carried those memories into their summer. Only now can they start to apply a sticking plaster and truly believe it may hold.

This remains the biggest rivalry in English football. Nothing really compares. There is respect and some shared political and cultural ideology between these two towns and clubs. 

Heavens, they are both shot through with Dutch orange these days. But the truth is that any sense of cordiality is gossamer thin. The reality is that hate endures and there is plenty of it.

Liverpool dominated United once again in in the FA Cup last season but somehow lost 4-3

Liverpool – and manager Arne Slot – were convincing, but they would not have expected this

Liverpool, who are adjusting to a new identity under Klopp’s replacement Arne Slot, would have hoped to win on Sunday. Their start to the season — beating Ipswich and Brentford — had been straightforward and encouraging enough.

But they would not have expected this, another afternoon when the cleverness and sheer method of their football once again proved to be of another dimension to the incoherent, emotional mess presented by Erik ten Hag’s United.

There has been great change at Anfield over the summer. The shift between Klopp and Slot was always going to be seismic and there will be bumps in the road ahead for sure.

Yet the truth is that it has appeared seamless so far and this performance was as good as any from a Klopp team at this great stadium.

Liverpool presented themselves here as they always have recently. Their football was aggressive, quick and incisive but also carried the calmness and control of recent times.

Sadly for United, they were equally recognisable in all the wrong ways. Ten Hag’s team should improve under the weight of a raft of summer signings but they remain a rabble. They are as mentally fragile as any team in the top division and as such they remain a side simply waiting to be beaten and beaten well.

This was 3-0 but could have been 5-1. Liverpool were impressive in all the right ways and key areas. The front three were irresistible, Ryan Gravenberch in central midfield was man of the match, Trent Alexander-Arnold passed the ball beautifully and central defender Ibrahima Konate had perhaps his best performance in a Liverpool shirt.

The shift between Jurgen Klopp and Slot, who took over in the summer, has appeared seamless so far

The Reds’ football was aggressive, quick and incisive on Sunday, just as it was in the Klopp (pictured) era

Once again they were a little wasteful in the final third and they won’t always get away with it. They didn’t last season, did they? But here there was no miracle for United. You don’t pull off that kind of stunt more than once — not against a team of Liverpool’s quality.

Alexander-Arnold left the field when substituted once again looking a little undersold on the idea. After the game, meanwhile, Mo Salah suggested nobody at Anfield has offered him a new contract. Both players will be free agents from January. So will Virgil van Dijk.

These matters will all come into play when we talk about that transition from Klopp to Slot in the long term. That’s the heart of this team, right there. But that is the big picture and today that will not matter in the cafes and workplaces of Liverpool. That will not be the chatter in the bus queue.

No, those conversations will be of another glorious day in Manchester, of football to stir the soul and quicken the pulse.

Man United are as mentally fragile as any team in the top division and were well beaten 

Most importantly, the talk will be of a score settled, a matter closed. This is what football is fundamentally all about.

As for Slot, he is the first Liverpool manager to win at Old Trafford at the first attempt since 1936. As he ambled towards the away end at full time and raised a thumb in the air, it was possible to feel the start of a guard changing.