Manchester United v Liverpool - International Champions Cup 2018
#4 The Manchester United defense looked shaky
Ad
Darmian and the United defense had a poor show
And why not? Eric Bailly was initially on the substitutes bench when the team was announced, but was drafted in for Smalling just before the start of the game. United started with three at the back, and it was a strange back three. Bailly had Fosu-Mensah and Axel Tuanzebe for company, the inexperience of the youngsters was evident.
Ad
Trending
There was a lack of understanding between the three as is expected, since the three of them have rarely played in a back three together before. The clumsiness was clear from the start of the game, when Lee Grant had to stretch to deny Salah from opening the scoring and Herrera had to brilliantly clear the ball off the line.
In the second half, Fosu-Mensah and Tuanzebe were both caught ball watching as Sturridge capitalised to score Liverpool’s second goal. And then, some poor clearing and non-existent marking allowed Shaqiri to finish brilliantly to take the game out of United’s hand.
Lindelof will be coming back to this team after a fine World Cup, but you can see why United is linked to a host of defenders daily. Mourinho will have to find his correct center back pairing, and he has to do that fast.
×
Feedback
Why did you not like this content?
Was this article helpful?
Thank You for feedback
About the author
Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.
Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.
Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.
Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.
Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.