Liverpool 2-2 Manchester United: Premier League – as it happened

And with that I’m going to wave farewell. Here’s the match report again. Bye!

Arne Slot says United showed in the last 15 minutes that “they are even better than they maybe know themselves”.

Because they got a big chance right before the end we also feel a bit relieved. But over the course of the game we created much more chances than them. But being 1-0 down and 2-1 up and conceding such a big chance at the end, maybe a point is something to take. I think if you look at the game tomorrow you’ll see in the first 20, 25 minutes we have three very good chances. But we played against very good individuals, I’ve said it many times now and you could see it today. It’s also a chance for them against us to show themselves, more than other games, that they can compete against the best in the league.

Alexis Mac Allister has a quick chat:

The result is not good enough. The performance wasn’t as good as we wanted. But in the end it was a fair result. We didn’t play as we wanted, we conceded too many chances. The effort was there, the mentality was there because we came back, but when you’re winning 2-1 after 75 minutes you have to defend better.

Andy Hunter has filed his match report from Anfield, and here it is:

An evening of some redemption for Manchester United was not without its customary agony at Anfield. Seconds remained of a gripping battle between the two old rivals when Joshua Zirkzee, taunted mercilessly by the Old Trafford faithful on Monday, found himself staring down at Alisson’s goal.

He spurned the shot at glory in favour of teeing up Harry Maguire, another maligned figure during United’s long fall from grace. He found Row Z of the Anfield Road Stand, and United’s wait for a first win at Liverpool in nine years goes on. Ruben Amorim sank to his haunches as the late miss unfolded and soon exited down the Anfield tunnel, although there was much to encourage the troubled United head coach here.

Much more here:

Bruno Fernandes is man of the match, and has a chat about it:

I’m pretty upset because if we showed this today against Liverpool, why can’t we do this every week? We said before the game, we need much more from ourselves to get something from this season. We need to look forward. We need more. I wasn’t worried about people putting in effort today because it’s Liverpool, everyone’s going to try to do their best. I’m more worried about Southampton [after the Arsenal cup tie].

Today was about putting real effort into the game. Playing with some passion. You have the tactics, but at the end of the day you need to put effort in and that’s why we got something from the game today. It can’t stop here. We have to bring this frustration to the next games. To understand that this has to be our level, and if we can do it at Anfield we need to do it every week.

Meanwhile, here’s a tasty stat:

Manchester United’s point takes them above West Ham into 13th:

That was quite silly and very fun. Both teams will feel they should have won it, which is probably as you’d want it, but it was United who missed a sitter in the final 20 seconds.

Final score: Liverpool 2-2 Manchester United

90+7 mins: What a miss! Harry Maguire of all people has fluffed a chance to win it!

90+6 mins: Robertson takes hold of Amad’s shirt and doesn’t let go for ages, eventually conceding a dangerous free-kick on the right.

90+5 mins: Liverpool’s most controlled spell for a while ends with Gravenberch miscontrolling Robertson’s pass, and a throw-in.

90+4 mins: Another corner for Liverpool, after Salah’s shot deflects off a defender.

90+1 mins: There’ll be seven minutes of stoppage time! Liverpool’s corner is headed on by Mac Allister and towards goal by Van Dijk, but again straight to Onana.

90 mins: Save! Liverpool break from the corner, Salah crosses and it breaks to Jota, who shoots straight at Onana from 15 yards! Then another save! Bradley beats Fernandes and tries to beat Onana at his near post, but the keeper gets a hand to it!

89 mins: United win a corner. They take it short, it’s played back to Fernandes, and his low shot from wide of the penalty area is straight at Alisson, who spills it over the line for another corner.

86 mins: More substitutions. Liverpool bring on Harvey Elliott and Conor Bradley and take off Gakpo (who’s played pretty well) and Alexander-Arnold (who has not). United bring Joshua Kirkzee on for Hojland.

85 mins: United keep the ball for a bit, which seems precisely the right thing to do. Chaos is more likely to benefit Liverpool, you’d have thought.

83 mins: Alexander-Arnold is booked for tripping Fernandes. United bring Leny Yoro on for De Ligt.

82 mins: Alexander-Arnold gives the ball away again, with a truly dreadful pass. Amad leads the break and passes to Garnacho, who is well shepherded by Van Dijk and wins only a corner.

GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 Manchester United (Amad, 80 mins)

79 mins: Mazraoui does well to burst into space in midfield, but then overhits his pass to Garnacho and Alisson collects. Meanwhile the finger of blame for the two goals United have conceded is pointing at Matthijs de Ligt. “At fault for both goals, clear cases of dereligt in his defensive duties, surely?” writes Tim Pearson.

77 mins: Nunez checks De Ligt’s positioning and jumps into him. De Ligt goes down, the referee goes to his pocket.

75 mins: Salah wins the battle for the free kick with Alexander-Arnold, and sends it over the bar. “I genuinely can’t get over how poor Trent has been. So so so poor,” writes Anthony O Connell (and, in various ways, several others. “Real Madrid must be looking at this wondering what they’re getting.”

73 mins: Maguire puts in another meaty but fair tackle to dispossess Salah just outside the penalty area, but the referee doesn’t like it so Liverpool end up with a tasty free kick, and Maguire with a booking.

71 mins: And now Liverpool have transitioned from erring to purring. Alexander-Arnold wins a corner. United bring Garnacho on for Mainoo.

GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United (Salah, 70 mins)

Penalty to Liverpool!

68 mins: The referee has been told to look at a replay of the incident. The ball was headed straight into De Ligt, who had no time to react. But his left arm was in an unnatural position.

67 mins: Huge claims for handball as Mac Allister’s header hits De Ligt’s raised arm. The referee waves play on for now …

65 mins: A delicious sense of complete chaos has settled over the game since the equaliser.

64 mins: De Ligt pulls Darwin back as Liverpool break, and accepts his booking with a look of resignation.

61 mins: A couple of changes for Liverpool, who bring on Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota and take off Luis Diaz and Curtis Jones.

60 mins: VAR checks for offside, but the pass is beautifully timed and the goal stands!

GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Manchester United (Gakpo, 59 mins)

55 mins: Liverpool are a bit of a mess at the moment. United have looked, more than anything, really well coached.

53 mins: It all comes from a rubbish Alexander-Arnold clearance, but Ferndandes’s pass is superb. Even Martinez is taken by surprise by it, but he has enough space to recover in style.

GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United (Martinez, 52 mins)

50 mins: Liverpool leave all sorts of space on their left and United attack it, but when they get into the area Amad falls over.

49 mins: Onana eventually thumps the ball all the way up to Dalot, who gets into the penalty area but sees his shot blocked by a sliding Van Dijk.

49 mins: The ball is curled into a hum of players. Onana flaps at it, but it doesn’t lead to a chance.

48 mins: Liverpool win the first corner of the second half, in front of a vocal Kop. Mainoo appears to be marking Van Dijk, for some reason.

46 mins: Peeeeep! The second half is under way.

“This has been unfolding like a Greek tragedy. As in, I haven’t enjoyed it. At all,” writes Matt Dony. “Typical that United pick this week to remember how to play a little bit of football.” The players are back on the pitch; Liverpool have had plenty of second-half improvements this season. Time for another?

Gakpo missed Liverpool’s best chance of the half (here). It’s interesting to compare his finish with Haaland’s second for Manchester City yesterday, from an extremely similar chance. From the left of goal Gakpo went with his right foot and missed the far post, Haaland dinked it with his left and that is very much the way.

“This is as good as United get these days: Dragging Liverpool down to their level,” writes Justin Kavanagh. That’s a bit harsh: they’ve been well organised defensively (excepting only that moment when Mac Allister sprinted onto Salah’s pass without anyone noticing), have worked hard in midfield and created a couple of chances.

Rosemary Maltus-Smith wants to know the temperature in Liverpool this afternoon. About one degree celcius, or 34 fahrenheit, I’m told, with winds of around 8mph and constant rain by way of bonus.

Half time: Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United

45+1 mins: The first of two(ish) minutes of first-half stoppage time and Luis Diaz and Gravenberch both have moments with the ball at their feet inside the penalty area, but they always have defenders in front of them and neither shoots.

43 mins: Then Liverpool break, but at the end of it Salah’s attempt to lift a curling shot into the far corner ends up in the crowd.

42 mins: Another chance for United! Martinez lifts a simple ball over the Liverpool defence to Hojland, who draws the keeper but then shoots into him. It drops to Fernandes, whose volley hits Konate.

41 mins: Amad finds Bruno Fernandes running down the left beyond Alexander-Arnold, but his low cross is cut out. Everything United are doing is coming down that side.

38 mins: Liverpool have had a couple of encouraging incursions into United’s penalty area in the last couple of minutes, but on both occasions they couldn’t control the ball once they’d got there.

35 mins: An absolutely gorgeous control and turn from Gravenberch, 25 yards from goal, from Alexander-Arnold’s pass. It doesn’t lead to anything, but if the highlights of this game turn out to be any better than hundreds of replays of that single moment they will be very good indeed.

34 mins: De Ligt goes flying in on Gravenberch, and then about 30 seconds later Maguire on Luis Diaz. Proper centre-half challenges, those, meaty but accurate.