Daley Blind guided home Juan Mata's probing free-kick to break the deadlock in the 48th minute
Ander Herrera doubled United's lead in the 70th minute after drawing a foul from Joe Gomez
Christian Benteke pulled a goal for back for Liverpool with a sublime overhead strike
Anthony Martial, who replaced Juan Mata in the 65th minute, secured the win with a superb solo strike
Wayne Rooney was absent from Louis van Gaal's starting line-up with a hamstring injury
David De Gea returned to goal-keeping duties while Marouane Fellaini was chosen to lead the attack
Danny Ings started first game for Liverpool alongside Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino up front
It was a cathartic roar that enveloped hope for the future. When Anthony Martial set off on his run, played in by Ashley Young, he had the coltish gait of a teenager.
He bamboozled Martin Skrtel with his footwork and simply shrugged off the challenge of Nathaniel Clyne. Youthful exuberance it seemed; the finish still had to be executed.
Yet he looked up coolly and simply drove the ball past Simon Mignolet. If you have a £58million price tag hanging over you, this is the way to announce yourself at a new club. Twenty one minutes into his debut, with 86 minutes on the clock and Liverpool threatening an unlikely point, the world’s most expensive teenager arrived in the Premier League.
PLAYER RATINGS, PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE STATS
- Manchester United (4-3-3): De Gea 6, Darmian 7, Smalling 6.5, Blind 7.5, Shaw 6.5, Carrick 7 (Schneiderlin 6, 74), Schweinsteiger 6.5, Mata 6.5 (Martial7, 65), Herrera 6.5, Depay 5.5 (Young 6.5, 45), Fellaini 5.5
- Subs not used: Rojo, Romero, Valencia, McNair
- Booked: Darmian
- Goals: Blind 49, Herrera 70 (pen), Martial 86
- Liverpool (4-1-4-1): Mignolet 5.5, Clyne 6, Skrtel 6.5, Lovren 7, Gomez 5.5, Milner 5.5, Lucas 5.5 (Moreno 88), Can, Firmino 6.5 (Ibe 6.5, 65), Benteke 6.5, Ings 6 (Origi 6, 74)
- Subs not used: K Toure, Sakho, Bogdan, Rossiter
- Goal: Benteke 84
- Booked: Clyne, Milner
- Referee: Michael Oliver 6.5
- Man of the match: Daley Blind
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EA SPORTS DISTANCE STATS
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MINS
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KM
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MILES
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Manchester
United
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111.9
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69.6
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Ander Herrera
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90
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11.6
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7.2
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Bastian Schweinsteiger
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90
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11.4
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7.1
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Bastian Schweinsteiger
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90
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11.4
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7.1
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Liverpool
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109.2
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67.8
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James Milner
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90
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12.9
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8.0
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Emre Can
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90
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10.8
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6.7
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Nathaniel Clyne
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90
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10.2
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6.4
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Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Official
Player Rating Index of the Barclays Premier League
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There will be tougher challenges ahead of course and more sceptics to convince. But the wide-eyed glee of the 19-year-old Frenchman racing towards the Stretford End and that roar suggested good things. Like when an 18-year-old Portuguese youth dazzled Old Trafford on a sunny August day 12 years ago.
For Martial’s goal was not simply the crowning moment of a United victory. It came at a vital moment. Two minutes earlier, Christian Benteke had delivered a strike which could easily be goal of the season and is certainly one of the greatest this fixture has seen.
Eyeing a loose clearance from Daley Blind, Benteke leapt as the ball spun behind him and, mid-air, connected with such force that the excellent David de Gea barely saw it. All of a sudden, until Martial’s decisive intervention, it seemed Liverpool might pluck something from this game.
The teenage prodigy made that impossible. And with a comfortable win against despised local rivals and the return of De Gea to the side after having resigned themselves to losing their keeper, it was understandable that Old Trafford could feel a glow of contentment yesterday evening.
‘We are all happy for him to score his first goal — and what a goal it was,’ said Blind.
Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick had warned United manager Louis van Gaal that the dressing room was ‘flat’ ahead of this fixture And never has a critique been so plainly evident as in the opening 45 minutes here, when United patiently circulated the ball ad nauseum in wholly unthreatening areas.
Rooney and Carrick might have added the Old Trafford crowd into their equation when assessing how lacking in fervour the club is. This was the first late kick-off for this fixture for years and police had only reluctantly agreed to the timing. Yet the atmosphere was as anodyne as the game in that first half. Perhaps the fans were merely a reflection of the turgid styles on display. Certainly, passion was absent.
The biggest excitement of the opening half came when De Gea’s name was read out. That at least prompted a genuine roar.
There was a brief commotion in the sixth minute when Mignolet managed to present the ball to Juan Mata as he attempted a throw out. Mata found Marouane Fellaini but he simply lifted his lame effort well over.
Fellaini shared with Benteke the propensity to snuff out any promising situation by sprinting into offside positions.
Memphis Depay might be congratulated for briefly attempting to inject some energy into the game, but his run in the 22nd minute ended up in the side netting. He was removed at half-time, Ashley Young considered a better bet.
Liverpool, presumably with the 3-0 embarrassment against West Ham in mind, barely seemed concerned with such minor matters as keeping the ball or constructing attacks. They hurried and harried here and there with the commendable spirit of a mid-table scuffler.
They did defend better than the capitulation against West Ham but their use of the ball on the few occasions they had it was uninspiring.
It was some considerable relief then when Young did demonstrate some intent to get forward from his first touch in the second half. In doing so in the 48th minute, he won a free-kick which earned Clyne a booking and United an opportunity from just outside the left of the box.
Mata stood poised, pulled the ball back to the back of the penalty area and Blind, running in, swept the ball past Mignolet. Blind celebrated; Old Trafford roared; suddenly, briefly, it felt like the fixture of old once again, as though the edge had returned.
Liverpool decided to reciprocate in kind and play as though the game actually mattered. Admittedly they were invited into the game by a terrible clearance by De Gea to Emre Can who found Clyne, who in turn touched a lovely ball to Roberto Firmino. He pulled the ball back to Benteke waiting to score and only Chris Smalling’s intervention saved United.
A minute later Danny Ings chested down a raking pass, shot into the ground and enabled De Gea to demonstrate his more commendable attributes with a fine flying save.Then it was Blind to the rescue in the 65th minute, as Ings’ close-range header from Skrtel’s flick was hacked off the line. Blind again managed to confuse Firmino as he sliced the clearance wide. In fact, the opening period of the second half was an unprecedented outbreak of excitement.
No sooner had Liverpool imposed themselves, though, than the game slipped away again. Joe Gomez rashly slid in to tackle Ander Herrera in the box and the Spaniard clattered to the ground. Referee Michael Oliver hesitated for a second but the guilty, sheepish look from Gomez confirmed his instincts and Herrera drove the resulting spot-kick firmly into the net.
Benteke then scored his wonder goal, but Martial quickly put him in the shade with one of his own.
