Liverpool vs Man Utd - How can a 0-0 be more dominant than a 7-0?
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp called the performance their most dominant showing against a Manchester United side.
Yes, even including the 7-0 last season.
Plenty will chuckle at that - but a quick glance at the underlying metrics prove Klopp may have a point. In both matches, Liverpool posted eight shots on target.
In the 7-0 victory, the total expected goals output, which measures the quality of chances created, was just 2.78 - basically implying Liverpool overachieved in scoring seven times. In this 0-0, Liverpool created a similar total in 2.35 worth of expected goals. A serious underperformance on the metrics, but as Jamie Carragher referenced, it never actually felt like a goal was coming despite so many efforts at goal. Of those 34 shots, it was only a Virgil van Dijk header that forced Andre Onana into any meaningful save - and even that didn't get him at full stretch.
It was an attacking performance low on quality and the usual ruthlessness associated with Klopp's football was anonymous. Despite putting on a defiant face, he wouldn't have liked what he saw.
Lewis Jones
This will have felt almost like a win for Erik ten Hag. Beaten at home to Bournemouth and dumped out of Europe, languishing down the league table, and with memories of that seven-goal thrashing at Anfield still fresh in the mind, this was a daunting trip.
What followed was a gritty backs-to-the-wall performance that had the United away support cheering at the final whistle. It was not an evening for a referendum on the progress - or lack of it - that Ten Hag has made in 18 months. They wanted defiance. They got it.
Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans, starting together for the first time, resisted all that was thrown at them. Andre Onana made key saves. Kobbie
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