Liverpool's defensive weaknesses exposed as injuries bite hard against Manchester United's fighting spirit

Liverpool's right flank proved all too inviting for Marcus Rashford and company in a bruising defeat for Jurgen Klopp

For all the raucous energy that the infuriated Manchester United fans brought to Old Trafford, this had something of the feel of lockdown football for Liverpool, that curious period where injuries and empty stadium contrived to rob the then-title holders of their propulsive force.

So it was Monday. Liverpool found themselves in a hard fought, hard run race and for once were some way off the pace. You don't need spurious sprint stats to illustrate the point. Merely by watching the game, it was apparent that Manchester United had an intensity and speed to their game that their great rivals, the team who for so long have been the Premier League's whirling dervishes, could not match.

As a one-off, that might not be cause for any great concern. United needed to show a reaction from their disastrous displays against Brighton and Brentford; Klopp himself had acknowledged before the game that he would rather have faced an opponent on the up than a wounded animal. Even when this defeat is set alongside the draws with Fulham and Crystal Palace that have Liverpool in 16th, the benefit of the doubt belongs with a side that has been at or near the summit of European football for almost half a decade.