Player Ratings: Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool
Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool | FA Cup round 4 | Player Ratings
Dean Henderson: 6
Conceded twice but also made some saves that you’d expect him to make. A huge game for him to come into but he stood up for the rest between the sticks.
Defence
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 7
Early on in the game, there were a few shaky moments with Wan-Bissaka on the ball but as the game went on his performance grew. The right-back played his best football towards the end of the second half where he made the right-hand side his own.
Victor Lindelöf: 5
An overall solid game from the Swede but he was unforgivingly at fault for Liverpool’s opener with some poor defensive anticipation allowing the ball to easily slip into Salah’s path for him to put away.
Harry Maguire: 6
Maguire had another problem-free afternoon, wasn’t directly to blame for the goals conceded although he could have made a better attempt to prevent Salah’s second.
Luke Shaw: 8
If Shaw can keep up these performances, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be involved in conversations about the best left-backs in England. Going both ways he showed great desire with powerful runs, something that has been questioned in the past. Another fantastic game.
Embed from Getty ImagesMidfield
Scott McTominay: 6
With the ball at his feet, McTominay is brilliant. His footwork is an underrated part of his game as it gives him the ability to beat the press which is of utmost importance against this Liverpool. However defensively he tends to get skipped past easily. His reluctance to close down Wijnaldum ultimately led to Salah’s opening goal.
Paul Pogba: 8
In his favoured midfield role, Paul Pogba was terrific. Something that’s been criticised about Pogba’s game is his unwillingness to do the dirty side of the game. The rhetoric is that defensively Pogba cannot be relied upon. Tonight the Frenchman proved he’s more than reliable as his pressing and recoveries led to the counter-attacks that saw United get their first two goals. Another outstanding performance.
Embed from Getty ImagesDonny van de Beek: 7
Van de Beek will likely be criticised for his lack of visual impact on proceedings but he affected the game in an enormous way. United struggles to keep the ball in the league reverse fixture a week ago. Tonight United kept the ball better meaning the counters were crisper, that was largely down to the Dutchman’s intelligence.
Attack
Marcus Rashford: 8
Electric. From the word go Rashford showed a desire to exploit Liverpool’s weak defence and ran the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Rhys Williams ragged. His pass for Greenwood’s equaliser was sublime. Perfect flight, trajectory and weight to fall to the goal scorer.
Edinson Cavani: 7
Didn’t get many chances of any but his leadership was there for all to see as well as his relented work rate.
Embed from Getty ImagesMason Greenwood: 8
Greenwood’s performances of late haven’t lived up to the high standards of last season but tonight we saw all of what a firing and at it Mason Greenwood is about. From the finish to his movement Greenwood was excellent today, hopefully, his season can kick on from here.
Substitutes
Bruno Fernandes: 7
Fernandes’ impact on the game was like the impact he made on United a year ago. Came on found a team with their backs against the wall and just let his quality show. Poetic that the winning goal was scored with a free-kick.
Fred: 7
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