To put it mildly, Manchester United and Liverpool played a match that fell well short of living up to the hype. It was a goalless draw that saw the team physicians get more work than the goalkeepers. The most notable aspects of this match were the injuries and substitutions.
For Liverpool, it was an opportunity squandered as they only got a single point, not all three, against a United said that was severely limited by injury. For United, it exposed the shortcomings Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has as a manager, and the developments of this match could leave them genuinely concerned about a potential injury crisis.
Let’s circle through the second part of our news and notes from this one. Go here for the link to the first part.
-United midfielder Nemanja Matic suffered a muscular injury in training yesterday and missed the match. Scott McTominay did a decent job in his stead, and played admirably. As for Matic, he could be out for up to a month, according to ESPN.
-United striker Romelu Lukaku was forced to play on the right wing today due to all the injuries United are dealing with in attack and midfield. Although he did contribute some decent crosses, overall his performance left a lot to be desired. His shortcomings provided plenty of material for mockery among social media users.
Here is a small sample of some of the more memorable tweets:
Lukaku when he realises he needs to play 90 mins pic.twitter.com/U1iIxMMnxR
— Darren (@Darren1878nsno) February 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/DeGeaoIogy/status/1099698280576020486
That first touch!! #Lukaku #MUNLIV pic.twitter.com/eV7yJoA2bK
— A game of chess with dice (@chesswithdice) February 24, 2019
Man Utd's medical staff covered more ground than Romelu Lukaku in the 1st half.
— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) February 24, 2019
After the match, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made a bizarre statement, which sounded like he was essentially blaming his opponent’s injury crisis for the match being bottled up, and thus boring to watch.
“If we had carried on like we started we could have won but we lost out rhythm with the injuries,” Klopp was quoted in his post match media availabilities.
“It was a game without a lot of highlights but intense for sure. On days when Man United are beatable you have to do it and we didn’t do it.”
Klopp: “It was a strange game. Man Utd injuries cost us our rhythm.” #MUNLIV
— Juliet Bawuah (@julietbawuah) February 24, 2019
Finally, the injury bug certainly bit Liverpool too.
Forward Roberto Firmino was subbed off in the first half, and according to the Liverpool Echo, left Old Trafford on crutches.
Liverpool star Roberto Firmino leaves Old Trafford on CRUTCHES after Man Utd draw https://t.co/tDwvnj6fFM pic.twitter.com/IKUpyq1IFM
— MANCHESTER UNITED NEWS ?? (@SirAlexStand) February 24, 2019
We’ll update this post with more information; when it becomes available.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.