Rooney gives Man United victory over arch-rivals Liverpool
There’s no way of sugar-coating it: this was bad. Manchester United won it 1-0 thanks to Wayne Rooney’s goal with 11 minutes remaining, and it will perhaps kickstart the second half of the season for Louis van Gaal’s side, but for long spells Liverpool had the better of a game that never came close to living up to its history. Rooney’s strike was United’s first on target in the game.
It was painful to watch, like two ageing heavyweights staggering around the ring, convinced despite all evidence that they still have a shot at the title. Once when Rooney took on Kolo Toure it was a battle of a forward with explosive pace and one of the lithest, most athletic defenders around. This was two elderly bears wrestling in desultory circles. Rooney, though, has shown signs recently of returning to form – which is to say form in his latter-day incarnation as a lumbering creator-finisher. This was the fourth game in a row in which he has scored.
"Scoring a winning goal at Anfield, it's been a long time since that happened for me," said Rooney, who last achieved that feat in 2005, "so I will be a bit selfish today and enjoy that one."
At the start of the weekend this was a battle of ninth against sixth and, in all honesty, it was nothing like that good. Liverpool had the better of it but, on a raw, cold afternoon, this was a game as bleak as the weather: on this evidence, both sides are a mile off mounting a serious title challenge. It said much that the best outfield player on either side was a center-back: Mamadou Sakho for Liverpool and Chris Smalling for United.
There had been early signs that United might be vulnerable to balls played in behind its back four. A long Lucas pass after 10 minutes caused confusion, David De Gea saving a header from Adam Lallana as he got to the bouncing ball first, and Roberto Firmino then putting the rebound just wide. Firmino then set James Milner away with a beautifully conceived diagonal, only for the England international to smash his shot over. A neat flick from the Brazilian created an opening for Jordan Henderson on the half hour, but he dragged his shot wide. After an indifferent start to his Liverpool career after a £29m ($41m) move from Hoffenheim, Firmino is perhaps just beginning to grow into this Liverpool side, although here are still occasions when he can seem ponderous.
"It's a derby and you only have one job to do: To win it," Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said. "I think Man United, if they talk about this performance, they will say it's not that good but they won. I feel really frustrated. A lot of the things we did were good but our finishing wasn't good."
For the most part, the first half was a scrappy affair, full of misplaced passes. Neither side had much in the way of rhythm, the game become congested in the center. It was a grimly industrious affair, long on effort and commitment and short on quality or guile. United, as was predictable given the respective philosophies of the two coaches, had marginally more of the ball but it rarely threatened to do much with it – and, perhaps most troublingly, when it did go forward it looked vulnerable to the counter. Only some fine covering work from Chris Smalling denied Firmino a shooting chance after a forward bursts from Emre Can.
United’s pre-match plans, not that they’d worked especially well, were disrupted as Ashley Young pulled up with what appeared to be a thigh injury just before half-time and had to be replaced by the 18-year-old Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, who went to right-back with Matteo Darmian switching to the left – Louis van Gaal forced into the rare position of playing two full-backs at full-back.
The start of the second half brought a Liverpool flurry. A flick from Lallana set Emre Can through. His low shot from an angle almost went through De Gea’s legs, but flicked the inside of his right heel and flashed across the face of goal. A Can snap-shot forced De Gea into a diving save to his right and the keeper bounced up to bat away Firmino’s chipped cross-cum-shot.
United’s second-half threat had been largely non-existent but for one Anthony Martial effort that he skewed across the face of goal after creating space for himself, but with 79 minutes played, Fellaini headed a corner against the bar – that familiar failure from Liverpool to deal with set-pieces – and, as the rebound dropped, Rooney smashed his shot into the roof of the net. Simon Mignolet got a hand to it but such was the power he couldn’t be blamed for not keeping it out.
It was a finish of great quality in a game that had dearly lacked it. United fans will celebrate a victory over its closest rivals, but other than the fact of the three points, there was little to generate optimism at Old Trafford.
