Liverpool were already riding high with back-to-back 2-0 wins to start the 2024/25 Premier League season against Ipswich Town and Brentford, but more eyes would be on them for Sunday’s rivalry clash with Manchester United.
Although Man United are a big club in name and spent a lot more than Liverpool in the summer transfer window, the Reds came into the match as the clear favorites with nothing less than three points expected.
But even the most optimistic of Liverpool fans would have at least expected more of a fight in this one. Liverpool blew Manchester United out of the water, exposing Erik ten Hag, once again, as a fraud keeping his job solely because he is employed by a club with no standards.
Liverpool took care of said club 3-0 in a match that might as well have been 6-0. Mohamed Salah scored his obligatory goal at Old Trafford, and while the main man was exceptional and has been electric this season under Arne Slot, that surprises precisely nobody.
See, Salah is easily the best player in the Premier League – as much as the media wants to make Erling Haaland already being the GOAT Premier League striker a thing – and that has been an undisputed fact since Harry Kane scurried to Bayern Munich.
Slot didn’t have a task with Salah. Even Rafa Benitez could coach Salah. (I’d have used Erik ten Hag as an example, but, let’s be honest, no level of incompetence appears to be too low for the Man United manager.)
But Slot did have a test with some other talented players on Liverpool who were not able to find their best level in 2023/24. Had Jurgen Klopp been able to get more out of them, then perhaps the Reds would have won the Premier League title over Manchester City (and Arsenal) in the end.
The first is Luis Diaz. He was the main star of the afternoon against Manchester United, scoring twice to bring his season tally to three. The Colombian, fresh off a great Copa America campaign, is averaging 2.3 key passes and 2.3 dribbles completed per game.
That’s the level Diaz is capable of. He was incredible for both Colombia and Porto before joining Liverpool in winter 2022, immediately performing as well as any player on the team as the Reds reached the Champions League Final against Real Madrid.
An electrifying dribbler who can score and create, Diaz should be a 10-goal, 10-assist player every season. After being mired in summer transfer rumors, Diaz looks like a renewed man, every bit the world-class winger he was when he first arrived at Anfield.
But Diaz bouncing back was bound to happen. The greatest transformation after three games belongs to center midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, signed by Bayern Munich from Ajax and then signed from Bayern by Liverpool last summer after he barely even got games for the Bavarians.
Gravenberch spent most of his first season at Liverpool as a backup. Whereas new midfielders Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Wataru Endo all played key roles in the Reds’ top-four turnaround, Gravenberch felt a little lost, like he was still trying to find his footing and his own playing style as a professional footballer.
Slot was likely familiar with Gravenberch as an opponent from his days in the Dutch Eredivisie, and he realized that Gravenberch is a languid, graceful, and technical midfielder who can glide past opponents, carry the ball into dangerous and central areas, and lay off the ball to create clear chances.
Gravenberch was unplayable against Manchester United, knifing through the heart of a, quite frankly, woeful Man United midfield and defense, and spraying measured passes to the wingers that led to shots on goal.
But what’s been truly remarkable is Gravenberch’s defensive contribution, which is beyond even what he produced for Ajax. The 22-year-old has been Liverpool’s best ball-winner, averaging an astounding 2.7 tackles and 2.3 interceptions per game.
If Gravenberch can keep that up, he’ll be one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League, even as the No. 8’s most significant contributions are as a technician in midfield.
Slot’s early returns as Liverpool manager indicate that Jurgen Klopp may have indeed left at the right time, leaving a great foundation for Slot to build on with new ideas and a new way of relating to raw talents like Diaz, Gravenberch, and so many others – including those who will come to Liverpool in the future.
