Liverpool 1 Manchester United 2: Amorim savours finest result yet as champions’ gloom deepens

This is the kind of result that reverberates up and down the Premier League.

Manchester United had waited almost a decade to win in the league at Anfield but, in condemning Liverpool to a fourth successive defeat in all competitions, they may just have breathed life into Ruben Amorim’s tenure at the club. The scenes of celebration in the away end at the final whistle certainly suggested as much.

United, remarkably given the start they had endured this term, are just two points behind the champions. Arne Slot, his side undermined by profligacy at one end and sloppiness at the other, had endured a first home defeat in the Premier League for 400 days courtesy of Harry Maguire’s late winner.

Of the quartet of losses they have endured of late, this defeat hurt most of all.

This was frantic from the outset. Bryan Mbeumo, played onside by Ibrahima Konate as he ran beyond a startled Virgil van Dijk, fired the visitors ahead after only 63 seconds with Liverpool expecting a referee’s whistle given Alexis Mac Allister was prone on the turf having suffered a head injury. The Argentina international had inadvertently connected with Van Dijk’s elbow as the pair competed for aerial possession with Mbeumo in the buildup to the goal.

That set the tone. Liverpool were always vulnerable defensively, with Bruno Fernandes clipping the outside of the woodwork when he should have scored and Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha a constant menace, but always posed a threat of their own. Cody Gapko struck the post three times — once with a deflected cross, twice with rasping drives — while Senne Lammens saved Alexander Isak’s shot with an outstretched right foot.

The champions flung on their full attacking resources in the latter stages and pushed desperately for parity. Mohamed Salah and substitute Hugo Ekitike fired wide with local panic setting in until Gakpo was perfectly positioned to tap in Federico Chiesa’s low cross.

Yet if that was supposed to be the prelude to a late Liverpool winner, then no one had considered Maguire’s late intervention. His header from a delicious Fernandes cross sent the away contingent into raptures, celebrations that were maintained when Gapko nodded wide of a gaping net moments later.

Here Gregg Evans, Thom Harris and Carl Anka dissect the key talking points from Anfield.

Should play have stopped for a head injury?

Manchester United’s early goal was clouded in controversy as Liverpool protested that play should have been halted in the buildup. When Mbeumo converted, Liverpool were playing a man down as Mac Allister nursed a head injury on the floor.

Mac Allister had taken a knock just seconds earlier after connecting with his team-mate Van Dijk’s elbow as the pair jumped together to challenge Mbeumo in the air. Referee Michael Oliver appeared to be in a good position to see the accidental clash and take relevant action, looking over the prone Mac Allister as Fernandes fed the ball out to Amad, but made no signal to curtail the United attack.

Alexis Mac Allister is bandaged up after connecting with Virgil van Dijk’s elbow inside the first minute (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

The match official is required to stop play if he sees a head injury, or another injury of a serious nature, yet Oliver allowed play to continue.

A number of Liverpool players looked frustrated after the goal while head coach Slot appeared to be complaining about the decision to play on with fourth official Craig Pawson on the touchline.

Mac Allister required assistance from the medical team and wore protective headwear for the remainder of the game.

Gregg Evans

Was this United’s front three coming good?

When the teamsheets were first released, United fans were equal parts confused and terrified.

Amorim had spent a good chunk of his pre-match press conferences discussing the importance of winning second balls, only to drop Benjamin Sesko from his starting XI. How were United supposed to win the first ball without their 1.95m (6ft 5in) forward competing for long passes? Let alone get players willing to fight for the second and third.

Onlookers need not have worried. United’s early goal settled nerves and they steadily grew in confidence from there.

Amorim’s reworked XI saw a Cunha, Mbeumo and Mason Mount reunited as a front trio, with Amad operating as the secret weapon from right wing-back. The result was a deceptively clever and fluid attacking unit that, in theory, brought enough defensive resilience when needed as well.

“Cunha has one characteristic that can push us forward,” said the visitors’ head coach just before kick off. “Konate and Van Dijk like the confrontation in the air so we try to give them different things to try to win the game.”

Mbeumo and Amad continued to build on their positive performance against Sunderland prior to the international break. The former has looked to play more centrally when United attack, giving additional space for Amad to cut inside and perform as an auxiliary playmaker. There were still the long passes and flick ons that have defined much of United’s 2025-26 campaign to date, but there were more angles of attack and runs in behind than Liverpool might have expected had Sesko started.

Off the ball, and Amorim’s reworked side would defend in a 5-3-2 — with Cunha and Mbeumo leading the press — when in Liverpool’s half, before retreating into a more compact 5-4-1 when closer to their own goal. Mount’s defensive aptitude proved important in keeping United compact throughout, regularly dropping into vacant spaces to slow down any nascent attacks.

Many a United fan and commentator expected Amorim to test his 6ft 5in sledgehammer of a striker against Slot’s back line from the off. Instead, the United head coach opted for something nimbler until the hour-mark — and, for long periods, it worked to great effect.

Carl Anka

The highs and lows of Cody Gakpo…

When Cody Gakpo starts against Manchester United, he tends to score. His late equaliser was his fourth against Liverpool’s great rivals in just over 300 minutes on the pitch, and the third time he’s marked a clash with United at Anfield with a goal.

But the truth is the Dutchman should have helped himself to quite a bit more.

Gakpo became only the sixth player in Premier League history to hit the woodwork three or more times in a single game. He was on the cusp of being substituted when Chiesa hammered the ball across the face of goal and into his path, a simple finish that earned him precious extra time on the pitch. Time for one more chance — a glaring, free header just outside the six-yard box — that he somehow managed to flick wide.

Cody Gakpo watches his shot ricochet back off a post (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

There were elements of misfortune about his earlier efforts. Gakpo first hit the woodwork after a sweeping counter-attack in the first half, looking to curl the ball into the far corner with a first-time shot. Shortly after, a deflected cross looped agonisingly onto the back post, while his third strike onto the post came after fantastic work to shift the ball onto his favoured right foot.

But Gakpo’s final chance — by far the biggest — is the one on which the game hinged.

Thom Harris

When will Alexander Isak spark into life?

Slot threw down the gauntlet for Isak on Friday, stating that Liverpool’s record signing was now in a position to be judged fairly after building up regular game-time for club and country after a disrupted summer.

A game against Manchester United felt like the perfect occasion to kickstart his career on Merseyside, but this quickly turned into another afternoon of frustration.

After the shock of Mbeumo’s opener, the game settled into a predictable shape. And although Liverpool largely controlled proceedings throughout the first half, suckerpunched by the occasional swift United counter, they struggled to convert their territorial dominance into moments of incision.

Isak was one of five Liverpool players tasked with occupying defenders across the opposition back five, while Ryan Gravenberch — constantly looking to receive the ball between United’s pressing centre-forwards, turning, and driving into midfield — was the main supplier. But Liverpool often left the likes of Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt unoccupied at the heart of defence, with Isak looking to drift into wider areas to combine with Salah out wide.

The issue was that Isak only really managed to find space in deeper areas with his back to goal.

Konate found a rare run in-behind with a perfectly-weighted pass on the half-hour mark, slipping Isak through on goal where his low effort was saved by the outstretched leg of Lammens. But that was an exception. His passes received map below shows how he was generally crowded out of the game, particularly when United were in their deep defensive shape.

Isak’s sublime mix of technical quality and ball-striking ability means that he will surely come good in a Liverpool shirt. But fans are being made to wait a little longer than expected to see him at his best.

Thom Harris

What does this performance mean for Amorim?

It has taken 34 Premier League matches, but Amorim now has an accolade to match David Wagner, Velimir Zajec, Paul Ince and Felix Magath. The United head coach has now — finally — won back-to-back Premier League matches.

Apologies for any churlishness, but those in and around the club will be relieved to have removed an annoying factoid from Amorim’s 11-month tenure. A rollercoaster series of results have made it difficult for fan opinion to ever settle on the head coach. This victory means United can enjoy a period of calm while the ‘crisis’ baton is handed to another ‘top-six club’.

United were worth their victory at Anfield.

This was more complicated than a smash-and-grab win. Amorim correctly identified structural weaknesses in Liverpool’s play on and off the ball, and set his team up accordingly. Yes, they enjoyed some strokes of luck — particularly with Gakpo’s finishing — but they successfully played their way out of any tricky situation the home side attempted to place them in.

The final half-hour did not make for entertaining viewing, but United’s compact 5-4-1 had just enough to deal with the majority of Liverpool’s siege-like attempts. They could have easily crumbled after Gapko’s 78th-minute equaliser, but rallied for the eventual winner from Maguire six minutes later.

Special mention must also be made of Lammens, whose acquisition on transfer deadline day looks to be a season-defining one. The Belgian goalkeeper inspires confidence in a way Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir failed to do, and gives Amorim’s men an extra 10-15 per cent of quality when defending.

The end result? United’s first league win at Anfield since 2016, and back-to-back Premier league victories for Amorim for the first time… ever.

Manchester United have positive momentum. A simple sentence, but one that will mean a lot to football fans around the world.

Carl Anka

Are Liverpool now in a full-blown crisis?

Liverpool’s title defence is crumbling and this is now a crisis for Slot and his side.

A run of four successive defeats in all competitions has exposed a team that looks far from the dominant force it once was. In the space of three weeks, Liverpool have surrendered a five-point lead at the top of the table and now find themselves down in fourth and four points behind Arsenal.

To rub salt into their wounds, this latest defeat was the most painful of the lot — not only because of the bitter rivalry with United, but because of the struggles on show.

Liverpool went behind for a fourth game in a row and were unable to rescue anything from it. A team that was so good at recovering points last season can no longer find a way back when they go behind.

It wasn’t for a lack of chances. Liverpool went close with Gakpo hitting the woodwork three times before he levelled, but it was another game without a goal for record-signing Isak and the out-of-form Salah.

The defeat now leaves a lot of unanswered questions as Slot is left to find a way out of this sustained period of discomfort. How do Liverpool change this? And how long will it be before it is too late?

Gregg Evans

What did Slot say?

On a fourth consecutive defeat: “If you play United, that comes here with a low block playing a lot of long balls, then you know it is going to be difficult. It’s not easy to play through them and you don’t get the chances to win the ball back higher up the pitch and create your chances. But it makes it even harder if you are 1-0 down after one or two minutes.

“But if you’d have told me before the game that we were able to play against the low block with the quality players United have and would still be able to create so many chances, I would have taken than immediately. It normally doesn’t lead to losing a game of football.

“But we did because we missed a lot (of chances). The few chances we’ve conceded led to two goals; again a set-piece is partly the reason we lost that game. No excuses. We’ve had more than enough chances to score a goal. You need to score more. If you are 1-1 and the game is completely there for you and you have to defend one set piece, then defend it better than we did.

“It is a difficult moment. You know how it works in football: if you lose two or three games of football, four… the main thing is the players need to keep believing in each other.”

What did Amorim say?

On the significance of the victory, Amorim told Sky Sports: “I think that was the biggest win in my time at Manchester United. It means a lot today but tomorrow it won’t mean a lot. It’s three points and it’s a good victory. We fought for every ball, we lost our composure in the second half but the spirit was there and that is the most important thing, if you have the spirit you can win any game.

“It was a good day. A good win. It will give us more confidence through the week and pleasure to our fans, they deserve it and that is in our hands. This is in the past now it’s time to look at the future.”

What next for Liverpool?

Wednesday, October 22: Eintracht Frankfurt (Away), Champions League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET

What next for Manchester United?

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