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"Man United haven't come up with a blueprint for playing against Liverpool" - Souness

Graeme Souness believes any notions that Manchester United have struck upon a blueprint to stop L...



Graeme Souness believes any notions that Manchester United have struck upon a blueprint to stop Liverpool are wide of the mark.

The former Liverpool midfielder was speaking on Virgin Media Sport's coverage of the Champions League, alongside Niall Quinn, as his former club visited Belgian champions Genk.

Three days earlier, Jurgen Klopp's side dropped their first points of the Premier League season at Old Trafford.

Man United fielded a back-three and Liverpool also weren't at their best for long stretches of the first-half.

But Souness believes any struggles from the Merseysiders weren't solely related to United's system.

"They had two shots on target," the former Scotland and Rangers midfielder said of United.

"Man United were at home and had two shots on target. They had 32% of possession. What they did to Liverpool in the first part for an hour, [was they] worked their socks off and stopped them playing.

War of Attrition

"They stopped the two full-backs getting involved and played five at the back, and stopped Trent and Robertson causing problems.

"But it was more of a war of attrition for an hour.


"I was at the game and at half-time, I said, 'They won't be able to do that for 90 minutes'. And they couldn't! Ten minutes into the second half, Liverpool took command of the game and then dominated.

"[Liverpool] were not at their best. But [United] haven't come up with a blueprint for playing against Liverpool. Man United are getting reviews for it and I'm not quite sure why. I think they can only play that way against two teams in England at Old Trafford, which is City and Liverpool, because they're so far ahead of everybody else."

He also added that United's goal shouldn't have stood as it was a "blatant foul" on Divock Origi in his view.

Virgin Media Sport has over 400 UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Nations League games live this season, and is available to all Virgin Media TV customers who can also download the TV Anywhere App and stream all the action whenever and wherever they like.


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