Manchester United Satisfied, Liverpool Failed To Get Rid Of Arsenal

Manchester United held a 0-0 draw at Liverpool d Anfield. (X/@ManUtd)

JAKARTA - Manchester United are satisfied to have managed to hold Liverpool to a 0-0 draw in the English Premier League match at Anfield Stadium, Monday, December 18 in the morning WIB. Liverpool itself failed to get Arsenal out of the top of the standings.

Last season, Liverpool taught Manchester United to play football when they won 7-0. Now, in the same place, MU looks different and forces Liverpool to only get one point in the classic duel, The Northwest Derby.

Even the Reds could not score a goal against Andre Onana, who in fact rarely had a clean sheet since moving to the Premier League.

The real duel of a rivalry that was built through a long history so that their meeting did deserve to be called 'Northwest derby'.

Not when Liverpool are against Manchester City at this time, the blue Manchester team is more in control of the English league. Moreover, Everton is also based in Liverool vs MU City or Man City.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, who was under heavy pressure following the poor results of the Red Devils in domestic competitions and failed in the Champions League, breathed a sigh of relief. He said he was proud of the team's performance.

The draw is the same as a win for MU. The confidence and motivation of the players will be boosted after a satisfactory result at Anfield.

"After the game I told the players in the dressing room that I was proud of them. We have to play more like this. For example, we did a game that was not easy against Newcastle United. Once we made a mistake, we conceded," Ten Hag was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

"When you [player] focus on the game and are disciplined on the game-plan, then you can get a chance. Whether it's one, two or three chances. And you will dominate the game,"

When asked about the 7-0 defeat last season, Ten Hag admitted that he had said it to encourage the players. The man from the Netherlands also declared the result a victory for MU.

"We are motivated [with a 7-0 defeat]. But I say we face them three times. We lost once, but won twice. So, we can beat them. And, we prove it," said the former Ajax Amsterdam coach.

After poor results in the previous match, including being humiliated by Bournemouth 3-0 at home, MU is predicted to lose again like last season.

However, MU actually played solid despite losing in the possession ball. Onana also made many brilliant saves. One of the best saves in thwarting Virgil van Dijk's header was supposed to be a goal.

The draw broke Liverpool's record 11 consecutive home games in various competitions. Even from that winning record, The Pool scored 35 goals.

If Ten Hag is satisfied, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp looks disappointed with the result. He was frustrated that the team could not break into the MU goal.

"Everything went well. I just didn't like the result because we were supposed to score. But we got points and in the end, we had to continue the competition," Klopp said.

The failure to win made Liverpool fail to get rid of Arsenal. Liverpool can only get rid of Aston Villa and they are in second place with 38 points. Similar to Villa, but Liverpool are ahead on goal difference.

Meanwhile, Arsenal, who are at the top, pocketed 39 points after a 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion.

The very close range of points makes competition for the top position still very tight until the turn of the year.

MU itself is still stuck in seventh place with 29 points. Jonny Evans et al failed to return to sixth position because they had been taken over by Newcastle United who won 3-0 over Fulham.

In that match, Liverpool actually showed dominance over MU. But they face a team that this time is very motivated in this classic derby match.

Apart from Van Dijk, Liverpool got a good chance through Mohamed Salah. Only Salah's shot could still be thwarted by defender Luke Shaw.

Furthermore, Trent Alexander-Arnold's efforts also failed. His shot still hit the post.

MU itself got the best chance through Rasmus Hojlund. However, he also still hasn't been able to score the first goal in the Premier League.

The host's supporters cheered when Shaw was seen touching the ball in the penalty box. However, the referee assessed that the ball only hit the arm and was not active. The referee's decision was strengthened by VAR.

MU finally played with 10 people ahead of the dispersal following the expulsion of defender Diogo Dalot.

He received a second yellow card which was followed by a red card in the 90+5 minute. There was no change after Dalot's expulsion because the score was 0-0 until the end of the match.