MD09: Manchester United 0 - 5 Liverpool FC - 1st Half Blitzkrieg with a Salah Masterclass

OK! Not gonna lie, when I saw the lineup, again I was not confident. And every time we come to Old Trafford, our form tends to get thrown out the window. However, then again, our Scousers have been on an absolute high momentum. Funnily enough, as far as all the games go for this season, this was by far the easiest, literally by a huge long shot, against Man Utd of all teams. I know we also beat Watford 5-0 but never did we have an easier time dismantling and burying the game before half time. That said I didn't like how dirty Man United were playing, they were all out to try injured and deplete our team. Naby rumors say that he'll only be out for a couple weeks, but no updates on Milner. Still a massive win, and back to back Old Trafford wins since Jota and Salah scored goals in the 4-2 win along with a Firmino Brace.

Really, I've been saying time and time again. Liverpool's offensive power is devastating because of right coaching but more importantly the correct and most reliable synergy of the forward line where everybody is in sync. This game is no exception. Everybody in front, consisting of Robbo, Trent, Keita, Firmino, Salah and Jota, all gelled in sync in what is our best ever Old Trafford away day, heck maybe even the best performance against Man U ever. I don't think any other Man U wins would have come close.

GK: Alisson Becker - 7.5 / 10

Routine day at the office, which is funny considering it is supposed to be Manchester United that he was facing. However he handled his box well and made a few routine saves that kept that clean sheet although I wouldn't have minded if CR7's goal wasn't ruled out either, as the game by then was well and truly buried.

RB / FB: Trent Alexander Arnold - 8.5 / 10
Contribution: 1 Assist

Typical Industrious performance from him, often swapping sides of the wings with Robbo and nice quick assist grab for Jota's 2nd goal!

CB: Ibrahima Konate - 8 / 10

Surprise call for Konate for a large game like this. But Konate don't care. To be fair, he wasn't really tested that much though he kept Cristiano Ronaldo quiet for much of the game.

CB: Virgil Van Dijk - 8 / 10

Equally sharp as his partner Konate, Virgil Van Dijk had no problems stemming Manc's attacks either because let's just say, Man U were simply horrendously bad. He had a bone to pick with CR7 after the latter fowled Curtis Jones which was hilarious though.

LB / FB: Andy Robertson - 8 / 10

Didn't add to the assists from his side, but his build up play was nonetheless solid and deadly. Another good outing for him.

CDM: Jordan Henderson - 9 / 10
Contribution: 1 Assist

Filled in for Fabinho who is ruled out to a knock. But no problem in such an important game as this. And wow, what a pass! Past a gap through 2-3 players for Mo's Hat Trick Goal.

LM: James Milner - NA

Didn't play enough to warrant a rating before getting subbed to injury. However he was on hand queuing up behind Jota just in case the latter didn't connect the 2nd goal.

RM / FW: Naby Keita - 10 / 10
Contribution: 1 Assist

Always running, always pressing, eyes on the ball and whoever gets it, always tracking, this was his best performance. He plays more as if an Attacking Midfield, even almost as a center forward and bossed the midfield area and more than willing to do the dirty work. Not a bad strategy to keep pivoting between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1.

LW: Diogo Jota - 8 / 10
Contribution: 1 Assist, 1 Goal

Back in again with the goal as he did in the previous Old Trafford encounter! Enjoyed his game on the left flank and linking up with Keita, Firmino and Salah.

CF / LWF: Roberto Firmino - 8.5 / 10

Didn't get on the assist or scoresheet. However he was heavily involved in the buildups to the goals as the glue to the rest of the forward line, always swapping and overlapping on the left with Jota.

RW: Mohamed Salah - 10 / 10
Contribution: 1 Assist, 3 Goals

Time for lunch of goals for him. Has to be a perfect 10. Has to be. Who scores a hat trick against Manchester United in their own turf? What a masterclass! SIGN DA TING!!! The question of Ronaldo vs Salah, who is the better forward, is undoubtedly clear.

SUB 1: LM - Curtis Jones - 8 / 10

Took a bit of time to grow into the game. But managed to keep the left attacking flank moving all the time. Should be ready to go for the Preston Game.

SUB 2: RM: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - NA

Didn't do enough to really change the game as it was truly done by the time Keita went out.

SUB 3: RW: Sadio Mane - NA

Same scenario. Only there needed to get some minutes when the win was already firmly in our grasp.

JURGEN KLOPP - 9

This is the difference between a world class coach and an average or below average coach. Klopp made some bold changes and also enforced changes, with Konate in for Matip even though the latter had been on top form and shape. He played to their strengths and exploiting the relative immobility of the midfield line and that resulted in an ultimate schooling lesson for Ole Gunnar or Goner Solskjaer. Unusual team selection, but was a perfect game plan. 

Next Game: Preston Away

We can afford to rest some big guns after what was like a huge gauntlet of games. We could afford to and did slow down the tempo after the 5th goal to kinda rest up abit. Brentford, Man City, Atletico, Watford, Man U, geez. Those are big matches this past whole 2 weeks and the whole of this week had been entirely away but the last 2 games were bloody simple, especially Man U, which was nice. And after Preston, it is Brighton then Atletico again. It was huge that we won them away last week and everyone's on such a high momentum. A draw with Atletico Madrid will suffice to secure qualification to the knockouts.

My expected XI vs Preston:

Kelleher, Neco Williams / Conor Bradley, Matip / Konate, Gomez, Tsimikas, Curtis Jones, Tyler Morton, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino / Musialowski, Kaide Gordon, Divock Origi.

With injuries to Fabinho, Thiago, Keita, Milner... our only fit Midfielders who can give the experience are Curtis and Ox. However, maybe a start for Musialowski? Because from our U23 match, Musialowski is absent, Tyler Morton too, and for obvious reasons Kaide Gordon. So maybe a new opportunity for em'.

MD8: Watford 0 - 5 Liverpool - Salah's masterclass and beyond outrageous goal and Firmino's Hat Trick rips apart Ranieri's Hornets

To be completely honest, when Claudio Ranieri was appointed manager, and Watford's first match under him was us, I was not at all confident. New Managers can always bring about new challenges and surprising moments. Moreover the farce that is the international break made Alisson and Fabinho unavailable. I was not worried with Kelleher, it's more of Fabinho.

I was predicting 1-1 initially...

Until we got an absolute beat down of the Hornets. Even these problems didn't stop our boys from losing momentum. In fact, although Man City result was a draw, which was a fair result and no complaints from me, and it was a bloody good game either way to see where our momentum was. And to be honest, Watford was just plain bad today. Poor start for Ranieri's first game in charge.

GK: Caoimhin Kelleher - 7 / 10

2nd start this season, 2nd clean sheet. Kelleher apart from the save at the closing stages of the game, literally had nothing to do at all. Easy evening for the young Irishman. Again with Alisson out, I was not worried with Kelleher being a reliable and excellent stand in and he'll do the job.

RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold - 8 / 10

Was a thorn in the right side and was industrious in Liverpool's attack to help bottle Watford to prevent them from coming forward.

CB: Joel Matip - 7 /10

It was a case of Watford getting bottled so much at their goal that Joel Matip was hardly troubled at all. 

CB: Virgil Van Dijk - 7 / 10

Same as Joel Matip. Easy game is a happy day in the office.

LB: Andy Robertson - 7 / 10

Like Trent, his energy helped to stay Watford's attack for large portions of the game. Contributed to Firmino's 3rd goal, even though albeit indirectly.

DM: Jordan Henderson - 7 / 10

Deputised well in the absence of Fabinho. In truth, Watford was so bad that they weren't really threatening the midfield so it made Henderson seem to have a decent game at the very least.

RCM: Naby Keita - 7 / 10

It's the same case for Naby Keita who deputised for the injured Curtis Jones as for Hendo. One of the easiest games played that it was routine.

LM/LW/Secondary RB: James Milner - 8 / 10

This guy just can't go down, can he? And as far as the midfield goes, he set the best tempo of all 3 midfielders today and used his good vision to great effect. Kinda doubling and overlapping Sadio Mane as a half left-winger. Another assist means he has done at least 1 for 18 consecutive seasons. Easy Peasy for Jimmy. Moved to right back for a bit when Trent came off before Neco took over for the final assist.

LW: Sadio Mane - 9 / 10

Today's match is pretty much the tale of the deadly thrilling three. Mane started the story. Seemed to return back to his old self, and frankly he had a good night to kick off the scoring frenzy with a delightfully outrageous pass from Salah and was energetic from start to finish.

FW: Roberto Firmino - 10 / 10

Was in the right place at the right time for all of his 3 goals. Short ranged goals are the weakness for any goalkeeper, including the veteran Youtuber and the Cycling GK Ben Foster and I know how good Ben can be even for Watford even at this age.

RW: Mohamed Salah - 10 / 10

Holy crap.... are you fucking kidding me?! That goal, everyone will be just watching that replay on repeat over and over and over again. And that's a difficult goal, like what he did against Man City. It's Deja vu all over again. Really, enough said. And he even picked out a delicious assist for Mane to kick off the goal fest, that was pinpoint accurate. Cheeky, cheeky, cheeky! He's in a form of his life, 8 games he played, 8 goals. What a streak!

SUB 1: LB Kostas Tsimikas - 6 /10

Got some minutes in his belt while Robbo catches a break to rest up for Atletico Madrid. Still industrious.

SUB 2: RM Alex Oxlade Chamberlain - 6 / 10

Subbed on for Trent in preparation for Atletico, moving to the midfield while Milner hangs back to Right Back.

SUB 3: RB Neco Williams - 7 / 10

Subbed in for fellow assistant Milner to take over Right Back duties for 10 minutes. 1st appearance of the season, marked with a 1st assist, charging down past and beating Danny Rose and picking out Firmino for his Hat Trick to round off the game. And that was not easy to pull off.

Next match: ATLETICO MADRID

We have some scores to settle and Atletico Madrid has always been a thorn on our side. However, with this match, we should enter the game full of confidence. On top of that, Alisson and Fabinho will be rested, fresh and ready to go. So it is kinda playing in our favor.

We are ready, we are coming for you.