Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis

#4 A day of contrasting fortunes for two world-class goalkeepers

Alisson gifted Manchester United the equaliser

Liverpool and Manchester United battled it out on a cold, rainy night at Anfield. The match represented two sides with completely different philosophies of football going toe to toe. However, another narrative brewing up was that of two top-notch goalkeepers going face to face.

De Gea has been a shadow of himself this season with his latest error coming against Arsenal. However, against Liverpool, he was back to his best. The Spaniard made a pair of crucial saves from Firmino and was hardly at fault for any of the three goals.

On the other hand, Alisson came up with a howler when he spilled Lukaku’s cross straight into Lingard’s path. After the high of mid-week, the Brazilian was brought crashing down to earth.

Apart from that error, Alisson barely had anything to do thus making his path to redemption on the night much harder.

In the war of attrition that Liverpool and Manchester United played out, maybe the battle of the goalkeepers wasn’t as relevant. Yet, De Gea reminded us why he shouldn’t be written off so easily while Alisson showed that he is human after all.