Key events
Goal! Liverpool 5-0 Manchester United (Nunez, 75)
What a day for Gakpo and Nunez, and United fans are streaming out. Alexander-Arnold loops the ball back into the box, and Henderson retrieves it, crossing on to the head of Nunez’s whose header is expertly flicked. Two goals against Manchester United? The stuff that legends are made of.
74 min: Two United subs are imminent, presumably an attempt to put Shaw and Bruno in the cooler.
72 min: Bruno Fernandes goes to the ground, and wants Konate to be disciplined, though that would need Konate to have been anywhere near him. That’s very poor from Bruno. Utterly lacking in sportsmanship.
70 min: A penalty appeal in vain from Bruno Fernandes as a ball hits a Liverpool hand in a perfectly natural position.
68 min: We’re in heads gone territory here. Luke Shaw and Nunez clash and it briefly looks as if punches are imminent. Shaw – just – calms down, and Nunez is becalmed too. Shaw was the agitator, and United players need to make sure they don’t pick up suspensions.
Goal! Liverpool 4-0 Manchester United (Salah, 66)
Antony Gordon lookalike Alejandro Garnacho forces a corner that only ends up causing trouble for United. Liverpool clear and via a series of failed clearances from clodhopping United defenders, Salah smashes in his 128th Premier League goal. No 129 is probably not too far off. Ten Hag, by the way, is raging. He’s incredulous.
64 min: McTominay lunges in on Gakpo, and it’s studs up. He’s booked but it may well have been red. And he was the player brought on to calm things down.
63 min: Anfield really enjoying its collective self now. This is the type of performance – and dominance over Manchester United – they were so used to in the Klopp years.
60 min: Martinez clatters Gakpo in an Eredivisie reunion from last year. He’s booked, and rightly. Ten Hag might be best advised to withdraw some of his hotheads before it all goes even more underpants and United lose players for the games coming up.
58 min: Konate heads a corner down and just wide as Fred and Weghorst go off and McTominay and Garnacho come on in an attempt to right the ship before any time of rescue can take place.
Graeme Souness’ smuggery levels in post-match could be off the scale. A big call that Liverpool would win this one looking fully vindicated. The real football men just know, don’t they?
56 min: It could have been four. Robertson wafts the ball past De Gea but wide of the post after Gakpo digs out the ball. United, at the moment, are an absolute rabble. Anfield has been one step too far for them.
54 min: Manchester United want a penalty. Chaotic scenes in the Liverpool box, as Alisson loses the ball at his feet, and then reaches down and looks to fell Bruno. No, Bruno’s leg was nowhere near the hand. A let-off, and a Liverpool player’s turn to lose concentration.
52 min: Two brilliant goals from Gakpo, who now looks a bargain at £35m. Suddenly, the revolution at Manchester United doesn’t look quite so assured. And you can’t blame the Glazer family for United’s full-backs and defensive midfielder having a collective meltdown, can you?
Goal! Liverpool 3-0 Manchester United (Gakpo, 50)
United push on, Salah speeds down the right, and slips in Gakpo. The angle is narrow, but De Gea is still beaten. It’s a brilliant finish. Liverpool are…back?
48 min: United try to find a way back as Antony does his shot, and Alisson reads it well. The Liverpool fans are now full of voice. United have to hunt their way back into a game that their lack of concentration has cost them.
Goal! Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United (Nunez, 47)
United caught cold again! Luke Shaw loses the ball, Casemiro and Weghorst can’t clear it, and the ball drops to Elliot, who lays it on a plate for Nunez, who cannot miss. Even he cannot miss…and Liverpool are in dreamland, while United have been in slumberland.
46 min: Back we go at Anfield. What now awaits us? Manchester United have become used to winning matches from behind, so beware Liverpool?
Colum gets in touch: “A much more convincing first half from Liverpool than has been seen in a long while The intensity has been at the levels of last season and the concentration too. Robertson has played with real fire in his belly and has been a constant thorn in United’s side. And Gakpo’s goal has been the icing on the cake.”
Ben O’Connell emails in: “How exactly did Gakpo snub United? They couldn’t afford him, hence Weghorst on loan? Nice editorialising with no substance to back it up and a convenient ignoring of facts.”
Ben is correct in that Liverpool were prepared to pay the fee straight out unlike United.
“To be honest, I spoke to him [Van Nistelrooy] a lot about United in the summer when the transfer looked like it may be coming,” Gakpo said. “But in the winter, not really. It was Ruud’s wish that I went to a big club – and I think I have achieved that with Liverpool.”
So, was it United who snubbed Gakpo? Or should we just avoid use of the word “snub”?
Half-time: Liverpool 1-0 Manchester United
United’s gameplan was going well, and they had the ball in the net from Casemiro. And yet, seconds later, Gakpo, the player who snubbed didn’t join them, was scoring, taking advantage of a loss of concentration from Dalot and then Fred. Plenty left to play for but Liverpool scored just as they came under pressure.
45 min: Only one minute added on, and Jürgen Klopp wants more after all that timewasting by United. The end of the half is still greeted with a huge roar.
44 min: It was against the run of play but Liverpool were able to exploit the greater space offered by United’s greater adventure.
Goal! Liverpool 1-0 Manchester United (Gakpo, 43)
Liverpool lead, and it’s Robertson’s pass to Gakpo, who cuts in past Fred, Dalot having been cut out of play, back on to his favoured right foot. Great finish from the player who United wanted to sign.
42 min: United get the ball in the net…but Casemiro was offside. And he knew it. That was a far better piece of Liverpool organisation.
41 min: There’s been ructions on the edge of the Liverpool box, and Fabinho grips Varane to the ground. Then, to confirm his entry into the book, he smashes down Rashford.
39 min: Panic in the Liverpool area as Antony is threaded through. Alisson scampers out and Van Dijk clears. It was offside but Liverpool were all at sea, and it was an offside by accident rather than design.
38 min: Liverpool’s turn to slow down things. The game yet to be anywhere near crescendo levels, though Dalot’s pass to Rashford catches the striker unaware. Bruno Fernandes has a big moan about his compatriot’s ball but the fault lay with striker rather than assister to these eyes.
36 min: Liverpool fans singing that anthem to the tune of the Fabs’ I Feel Fine. Their team is not yet doing fine, merely OK. It’s tense.
34 min: Jürg is out of his seat, and raging. But is this their response? Gakpo smashes into Antony, and that’s his second foul. That sets off Jürg again.
32 min: United have a free-kick, awarded when Gakpo crunches into Luke Shaw. Dalot gets on the end of a Bruno ball and Alisson claims but the momentum is with United for the moment.
30 min: The first booking looks to be Luke Shaw, for pulling back Salah, though it seems no such card is brandished. The resultant free-kick is cleared and Konate has to get the ball clear when Antony attempts to reach Rashford at the back post. Antony gives a knowing smile to his colleague.
29 min: Now Liverpool attempt to wrest back control. They pass it rather than push on. The word from a man in the stands is that Nunez is struggling after falling on his shoulder.
27 min: And now Luke Shaw sends Rashford away, only for the golden boy’s golden touch to desert him. United suddenly look as if they fancy this.
26 min: The best chance so far. Diogo Dalot whips the ball, Beckham-style, and Bruno Fernandes, off the left, heads wide. Erik ten Hag agonises on the touchline.
25 min: Another shaky Casemiro touch, just when United seemed to be making incursions. Neither team is capable of keeping the ball. Liverpool have Nunez, United have Antony as their leading conceders.
23 min: Martinez clears when a Robertson ball is arrowing towards Nunez. The pair of them have a discussion that is heated but cordial. One to watch. Both players are combustible.
