What we learnt from Man United’s win over Liverpool

Time to start worrying about Mignolet again

LONDON — The Liverpool goalkeeper endured a torrid campaign last season, losing his place in Brendan Rodgers’ first team after a series of high-profile and calamitous errors.

To his credit, Simon Mignolet appeared to have navigated those troubles with a strong end to the season and restoration to No 1 spot. Early signs in Liverpool’s biggest game to date, however, were not good.

A misplaced clearance set up a Manchester United attack, there were a couple of unconvincing punched clearances and, most worrying of all, he rolled the ball directly to Juan Mata although, fortunately for the visitors, the United midfielder squared for teammate Marouane Fellaini to clear the crossbar by some feet. This is nowhere near the crisis of last season, but Mignolet’s status bears some closer scrutiny.

Fellaini not a natural No 9

It is a safe bet most semi-knowledgeable football supporters would have long since assumed that was the case, but Louis van Gaal’s transfer policy this summer of shifting strikers out of Old Trafford while lining up few, if any, replacements led the United manager to try and convince us that Fellaini could plug the gap.

Injury to Wayne Rooney allowed an early glimpse into the validity of that claim and, while Van Gaal does not take kindly to having his judgment questioned, it was hard to envisage any situation in which Fellaini could be anything other than an emergency centre-forward.

An early half chance fell to Fellaini, who cleared the crossbar with Mignolet out of position, while his lack of mobility and dreadful first touch in the area were all too apparent.

Football fans are extremely understanding

Just days after David de Gea’s bags were packed ahead of his “dream” move to Real Madrid, the Spanish goalkeeper was recalled by Van Gaal, freshly armed with a new, four-year £200,000 (S$435,550)-a-week contract. De Gea was welcomed warmly by supporters when he came out to warm up pre-match and, with the stadium full at kick-off, the announcement of his name in the run through of the United line-up brought him a standing ovation.

Young still a key factor for United, while the jury remains out on Depay

The arrival of young Dutchman Memphis Depay, and his outstanding display against Brugge last month, left something of a question mark over the role Ashley Young will have to play in Van Gaal’s plans.

However, another disappointing domestic 45 minutes from Depay saw him replaced at the interval by Young, who made an instant impact on the game with his direct running, pace, energy and confidence. Young may be more effective as an orthodox winger in a midfield four, rather than the three favoured by Van Gaal, but his performance here led to a quick goal and the transformation of the game.

Is it really only six months since Gerrard was sent off?

Arguably the most passionate and often downright caustic fixture on the English football calendar, the latest meeting between the two rivals was, to use a word bandied around the United dressing room of late, distinctly “flat”. In the not-too-distant past, the game was guaranteed to provide sights such as Steven Gerrard upending Ander Herrera and being shown a red card, as he graphically recalled in his autobiography this week.

Perhaps that lack of homegrown players for whom this fixture really meant something is to blame, but how the first half was crying out for a Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Gerrard or Jamie Carragher to stamp his imprint on the game, literally as well as figuratively.

The respective teams’ lacklustre starts to the campaign clearly did not help, and at least second-half goals salvaged something from the game and created something approximating an atmosphere. But football neutrals, as well as the two sets of supporters, need this fixture to regain its former spark quickly. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH