Liverpool’s goalless draw with Manchester United on Monday night was a lot of things, but few will be quick to call it fun.
José Mourinho did a great job of setting up his team to neutralise the home side’s threat, and with a couple of exceptions – Philippe Coutinho forcing a big save from David de Gea chief among them – neither side did much to threaten the opposition goal.
Some called it tactical. Others called it intriguing. A few were more honest.
This game is like a chess match. In the sense that no one's benefiting from it being televised.
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) October 17, 2016
After that stalemate (yeah, it’s a chess pun, deal with it) the last thing anyone wanted was another Liverpool v Manchester United game the next day.
But thankfully the two clubs’ respective under-23 teams provided a bit more entertainment. Sure, we’ve only seen about six seconds of the game, but that’s enough.
The Reds selected a handful of players with first-team experience, including Danny Ings, Mamadou Sakho and last night’s unused substitute Marko Grujić, but it was a less heralded name who provided the stand-out moment in the 1-1 draw.
Harry Wilson has played more games for Wales than he has for Liverpool (don’t worry, it’s just one to zero – you didn’t miss that much), but he can’t be far from a first-team call-up on the evidence of his first-half goal against United.
Wilson showed great reactions to turn teammate Pedro Chirivella’s tame shot beyond opposition goalkeeper Sam Johnstone with a deft flick.
More of this, please.
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