After being thumped 4-0, it is safe to say that there weren’t many positives for Manchester United to take away from Anfield on Tuesday night.
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool put on a masterclass against their bitter rivals and with four goals coming from Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane and a brace from Mo Salah, United’s evening couldn’t have gone much worse.
Although not many United fans would have predicted the Red Devils to come away with a win, very few would have been expecting to see such a lacklustre performance.
Second best in every department all night long, interim boss Ralf Rangnick would have undoubtedly been relieved when referee Martin Atkinson blew the whistle for full-time.
Despite the shocking nature of Tuesday’s performance, the stand out moment came from academy graduate Hannibal Mejbri, who was awarded his first-team debut after roughly 80-minutes.
Although only given 10-minute’s worth of action, the Tunisia international wasted no time in putting his body on the line.
Quickly being booked and perhaps lucky not to have received a second yellow, the 19-year-old’s physicality and obvious desire to win the ball back certainly gave fans something to cheer about.
Speaking about what the rest of the season could have in store for the teenager, former United midfielder Luke Chadwick, who spoke exclusively to CaughtOffside, said: “Hannibal is a hugely talented player. He is a very technical player who is incredibly gifted, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more of him.
“But the scariest thing about Tuesday night was that when he came on, obviously wanting to make an impact, that was the only time we saw that kind of desire all night.
“That was the biggest game of the season – the toughest game and the biggest rivalry; playing away at Anfield and it took the young lad for coming on for it to look like a game like that because other than that, Liverpool were just doing as they pleased.
“It was notable for the time he was on the pitch just how much ground he covered. He seemed to be everywhere and although some of his tackles weren’t great, at least he was getting close to Liverpool’s players.”
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Rangnick should play as many of the youth players as he possibly can. Can they perform worse than their senior colleagues? I don’t think so. It’s is ironic to hear that Bruno Fernandez held some sort of an inquest after the game. Bruno is petulant and mor concerned about others making mistakes yet he is one of the chief culprits. His loses the ball so often. Lacks an awareness of positional play. I can’t understand what was urgency to give Bruno a new extended contract. He doesn’t deserve it. Let us hope the new manager will be given the funds to buy a a complete new defence.