Manchester United centre back Matthijs de Ligt revealed that his side had been sent out with the specific brief of targeting Liverpool’s two fullbacks, Milos Kerkez and Conor Bradley, which he described as a clear “weakness” for the defending Premier League champions.
United’s early opener in Sunday’s 2–1 victory at Anfield duly came down Kerkez’s left wing, although Virgil van Dijk wasn’t entirely without blame. Liverpool’s towering centre back failed to get much purchase on a headed clearance inside the opening minute, making more firm contact with the back of Alexis Mac Allister’s scalp.
As Bruno Fernandes funnelled the ball out to Amad Diallo on the wing, where he was met by a timid Kerkez, Van Dijk trotted back into position, half-heartedly pointed over his shoulder at the blur of white sprinting between himself and Ibrahima Konaté. Bryan Mbeumo finished through a weak Giorgi Mamardashvili and Liverpool’s defence were left to look around at each other in shock.
“We knew that Liverpool had weaknesses, and that’s their fullbacks,” De Ligt revealed to after the match. “We were all really hyped, and the focus was very high. Today was a game that you really have to be concentrated.”
Kerkez never got to grips with the double act of Amad and Mbeumo. Liverpool’s summer recruit from Bournemouth has endured a testing start to his Anfield career and offered little reassurance on Sunday. Such was Van Dijk’s frustration with the left back that, after inadvertently kicking the ball into Kerkez’s face, it was the Dutch captain who demanded an apology.
Bradley was less troubled on the opposite flank, largely because Mason Mount was more likely to tuck infield rather than dribble at him like Mbeumo, but Matheus Cunha wreaked havoc across the backline with his role as a roving forward.
“Sometimes the characteristic of the game change the way we approach it,” United head coach Ruben Amorim explained. “Cunha in the middle, if we put Ben [Šeško] it is easier for this kind of centre backs to control our striker. This kind of game, when we win, the coach is so smart and when we lose, the problem is the manager.”
