Van Dijk: 'There was only one team trying to win the game'

PREMIER LEAGUE

LIVERPOOL 0 

MAN UNITED 0 

IT is a sign of the miserable slump being experienced by Erik ten Hag and Manchester United that a goalless draw with the old enemy Liverpool brought a reaction of, not only relief, but qualified delight from his club.

In a game low in attacking quality, from both teams, a United side depleted by injuries and suspensions clung on to survive 34 shots from the hosts and avoid a repeat of the 7-0 defeat they suffered at this stadium in March.

Such an outcome was widely expected again although, in an oddly muted game between these two great rivals, it took until the 93rd minute for anything resembling controversy, when United full-back Diogo Dalot somehow collected two yellow cards for the same incident of dissent with Michael Oliver, arguing over a throw-in decision, and was sent off.

But it was about the only foot United put wrong on an early evening that saw Liverpool, for the first time in 12 league and cup games at Anfield this season, fail to win.

As frustrated Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk succinctly put it: “In the end, they’re buzzing with a point; we’re disappointed with a point.” It was a draw that prevented Liverpool from moving to the top of the Premier League although Jurgen Klopp could only look at his own team, one that curiously lacked their usual quality in the final third.

A largest Anfield crowd in over 60 years - 57,158, thanks to the opening of a new tier at the Anfield Road end - was never really given cause to generate the sort of atmosphere this fixture usually creates, at least not once United had negotiated a tricky opening five minutes in which the hosts forced three corners.

As for United, hammered at home by Bournemouth and knocked out of