Manchester United produced an utterly unexpected 2-1 victory over old rivals Liverpool in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Monday to turn fan protests against the club’s owners into a rare night of celebration.
United’s vastly improved performance for their first points of the campaign, thanks to goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford, left Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool without a victory from their opening three games and with just two points.
It was the first win for United’s Dutch manager Erik ten Hag who was rewarded for his decision to leave Cristiano Ronaldo and club captain Harry Maguire on the bench.
“I am happy with the performance but we have to bring it every game,” said Ten Hag. “Don’t just bring it against Liverpool. Every Premier League game is difficult. We need to bring it to every game. It starts, once again, with the spirit.”
In the aftermath of last week’s humiliating 4-0 loss at Brentford, it has been a week of major question marks over the club’s owners, the Florida-based Glazer family, and some fans marched to the ground in protest ahead of the kick-off calling for them to sell the club.
United’s transfer failings have also been criticised but before the match started their new arrival from Real Madrid, Casemiro, was unveiled to the fans, although the welcoming applause threatened to be drowned out by anti-Glazer chants.
That strange juxtaposition of support and protest remained throughout the game but United’s display, their best in over a year, defined the night.
