Jose Mourinho will be the happier of the two managers after his Manchester United side drew 0-0 with Anfield.
The Red Devils were second best for 90 minutes against Jurgen Klopp’s team, who played with speed and intensity but couldn’t find a way past David de Gea.
It’s the first time this season that we’ve seen Mourinho resort to the same type of defensive tactics that carried Man United throughout much of last season.
It denied everyone the opportunity to witness a goals fest that many were expecting and continued a run of rather stale Liverpool v Man United contests since Mourinho took charge at Old Trafford in 2016.
In three meetings, there have been two 0-0 draws and a 1-1 tie. For a matchup considered to be one of the best rivalries in world football, it hasn’t been entirely entertaining.
Yet Mourinho won’t care about that. His side remain unbeaten in the league and have got through their first true test of the season.
Today’s match showed just why Man United have refused to sell De Gea to Real Madrid.
He was superb, his stop from Joel Matip in the first half the pick of the moments.
Mourinho had an incident with a Liverpool fan
One incident in the first half attracted plenty of confusion from those inside Anfield.
Initially, the sight of Mourinho shaking hands with a Liverpool fan would have appeared completely wrong.
But there was quite a good reason for it.
Per Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News, the ball arrived at the fan after it went out of play and Mourinho asked for it back.
But the cheeky Liverpool supporter decided to throw it away instead.
Some managers might have found that irritating but not Mourinho, who chose to shake his hand.
Given how the match would pan out, with Liverpool being the aggressors, the fan probably wishes he’d returned the ball immediately instead of wasting time.
What did you make of Man United's tactics against Liverpool? Let us know in the comments section below!
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