Manchester United and Liverpool played to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday with the main talking point being the four first half injury substitutions (three for United, one for Liverpool) that drastically altered the shape of the game.
In the grand scheme of things, the draw sees Liverpool return to the top of the Premier League table with a one-point lead over Manchester City. After Arsenal’s victory over Southampton, the Gunners have overtaken the Red Devils in fourth by a single point.
Scott McTominay was handed the start in United’s midfield three after Nemanja Matic was injured in training earlier in the week, and that potential area of weakness was compounded when Ander Herrera was taken off for Andreas Pereira in the 21st minute.
Four minutes after that, Juan Mata was forced off the park and replace by Jesse Lingard. Lingard had injured his hamstring against PSG not even two weeks ago, so it wasn’t a massive surprise when the English attacker had to be withdrawn with a recurrence of that injury after only 18 minutes on the pitch.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær brought on Alexis Sancez for Lingard, while Jurgen Klopp had to withdraw Roberto Firmino for Daniel Sturridge. What’s more, Marcus Rashford was on the receiving end of an early heavy foul from Jordan Henderson and spent the entire match limping around.
With 16 fouls and four substitutions, the first half never got going. The best passage of play saw Romelu Lukaku release Lingard in the box, but Alisson was quick off his line to avert the danger.
"Not today!" -Alisson, probably pic.twitter.com/LNhaXUYa3e
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) February 24, 2019
The Man Utd physio's heat map from the first half, you have to admire his work rate #MUNLIV pic.twitter.com/IvftgOrsxH
— BenchWarmers (@BeWarmers) February 24, 2019
The busiest man at Old Trafford today #MUNLIV pic.twitter.com/poAVWnBjm2
— Kovazic (@khadar_zico) February 24, 2019
3 - Manchester United are the first team to make three substitutions in the first half of a Premier League game since Burnley in January 2015 vs Newcastle United. Ailing. #MUNLIV pic.twitter.com/tjWhNuxLMy
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 24, 2019
With all the injuries and changes, you’d have expected Liverpool to exert more pressure in the second half, but that wasn’t the case. Mohamed Salah was invisible all afternoon and got hooked in the 79th minute. The introduction of Xherdan Shaqiri for Henderson also changed little in the match.
For United, the heroes were Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof and Ashley Young. The trio stopped Liverpool’s play out wide while also cooly handling everything that came their way in the box.
Man United return on Wednesday with a match against Crystal Palace. Liverpool play Watford on Wednesday before the Merseyside Derby on Sunday, which takes place at Goodison Park.
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