Tenacious Liverpool battered a helpless Manchester United 3-0 thanks to a 23-minute blitz from the dazzling Mo Salah and Luis Diaz either side of half-time.
Salah supplied Diaz twice in the first half with Liverpool profiting from Casemiro mistakes on both occasions, and Erik ten Hag’s removal of the Brazilian at the break failed to stem the bleeding as The Red Devils’ tormentor-in-chief bagged a goal of his own before the hour mark.
With Manchester United’s new brains trust all in attendance, including Jim Ratcliffe, Ten Hag’s side started brightly but looked in danger every time Liverpool broke forward and Old Trafford was half-empty by the time the final whistle rang out.
By contrast, Arne Slot continued his winning start as Liverpool boss in fine style and saw his side go second in the Premier League – level on nine points with leaders Manchester City, but second on goals scored – with The Reds seemingly picking up right where Jurgen Klopp left off.
Apart from a point-blank Joshua Zirkzee miss, Liverpool had the better of the non-scoring chances too and Trent Alexander-Arnold saw his apparent opening goal chalked off for an inconsequential offside in the build-up, though not before the full-back had recreated Steven Gerard’s iconic camera kiss in celebration at Old Trafford.
Federico Chiesa watched on from the stands and will be another deadly weapon to work into a plethora of attacking quality at Slot’s disposal, as Liverpool put in their most-ruthless performance of the season so far.
Casemiro’s hopeless pass to two Liverpool players gave The Reds a numbers advantage that left Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai queuing up to score the opener, but when he was dispossessed ahead of the second goal it was a different picture.
Manchester United appeared well set with few attacking players ahead of Diaz, yet it took just two passes to create space for his well-placed shot, while Alexander-Arnold’s disallowed goal was also relatively simple in its construction.
Ten Hag replaced Casemiro with Toby Collyer at half-time but the damage was already done, as United’s past problems came back to haunt them to devastating effect.
Salah shines, Casemiro crumbles
While Slot had the luxury of leaving Chiesa out of his matchday squad, Ten Hag may well have paid another £50 million just to have had Manuel Ugarte available against Liverpool.
In a tale of two 32-year-olds, compared to Casemiro, Salah offered a touch of quality to a frenetic Liverpool attacking quartet at just the right moments with a hand in all three goals and creating opportunities for at least two more.
Slot’s unchanged Liverpool continued to gel, while Ten Hag had reversed his two tactical changes from the Brighton defeat with over 20 minutes to go at Old Trafford.
Mason Mount’s injury last week had added to a long list in the treatment room but Matthijs de Ligt and Alejandro Garnacho were also included for Harry Maguire and August’s player of the month Amad Diallo.
Garnacho carried much of Manchester United’s attacking prowess and boos rang around a rapidly emptying stadium when he was substituted, but Amad made an impact immediately and De Ligt had a middling debut.
All of United’s efforts on target came after Salah had killed the game, with the two sides looking worlds apart particularly in the final third with Ten Hag’s men often missing the final pass in contrast to their guests.
Kobbie Mainoo and Noussair Mazraoui reached the final whistle but threatened further headaches when they received extended treatment on the pitch and to make matters worse for Ten Hag, his bench offered barely any answers to the onslaught.
With Scott McTominay departed for Napoli, his only options in central midfield were Premier League debutant Collyer and Christian Eriksen, and Ugarte’s debut cannot come soon enough for Ten Hag who must oversee a revolution and breathe new life into Casemiro.
