Five things we learned as Mainoo fires Man United past Liverpool
Five things we learned as Mainoo fires Man United past Liverpool Manchester United just about scraped to a 3-2 home victory over Liverpool — and with it, Champions League qualification — in a topsy-turvy game at Old Trafford. Despite coasting to a 2-0 half-time lead, Michael Carrick’s side imploded in the second half to gift the visitors a way back into the game. Step forward Kobbie Mainoo, whose late controlled drive sent the stadium into meltdown and grabbed all three points.
From Bruno’s brilliance to Mainoo’s majesty — here’s what we learned. Brilliant Bruno doesn’t need the record The universe (social media) has decided that Bruno Fernandes getting player of the year is conditional on him notching the all-time Premier League assist record. But why?
Is it not enough that he’s been absolutely instrumental in the upswing of the division’s form team this calendar year? Yet again, Bruno was at the centre of everything for Manchester United, so it seems bizarrely arbitrary to set record-breaking targets when he’s already clearly playing the best football of his excellent United career. The Portuguese has been the most productive attacker in the top flight since October, and has smoothed out some of his rough edges to become the the Premier League’s star man.
And everyone knows it. Let’s go Sesko How much of that second half drop-off was down to losing Benjamin Sesko? The giant Slovenian had been a constant menace during their dominant first half, scoring one and troubling Liverpool’s centre-backs whenever the ball came into his orbit.
When he went off, the home side seemed to miss his physical dominance and aerial threat. It probably does not help that his replacement, Amad, had another minor nightmare for at least the first 15 minutes of the second half. Mentality issues remain From coasting at half-time to falling apart within 15 minutes, Manchester United’s opening to the second half brought back all the old ghosts from campaigns of the miserable recent past.