(Football news) After a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Brentford last weekend, Manchester United were in immense pressure heading into the match against their fiercest rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford. Erik ten Hag was looking for a strong reaction from his side and he got it as the Red Devils defeated their rivals 2-1 with goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford. The result meant that they leapfrogged Liverpool in the Premier League table, defeated their bitter rivals for the first time since March 2018 and secured their and Ten Hag’s first win of the season.

Such was the performance by Manchester United that goalkeeper David De Gea didn’t have to make a single save in the first half as Jadon Sancho found the back of the net in the 16th minute with a calm and composed finish. To make matters worse for Liverpool, the Red Devils doubled their advantage eight minutes into the second half when Anthony Martial set Rashford up and the 24 year old scored past Allison at the near post. The visitors did manage to pull a goal back in the 80th minute with Mohamed Salah scoring from Fabio Carvalho’s rebound, becoming the first player in Liverpool’s history to score 10 goals against Manchester United.

Speaking after the match Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said “We can talk about tactics but it's all about attitude. There was communication, fighting spirit and then you can see what they can achieve. I wanted a different approach and a different attitude and that is what they brought on the pitch. It is only a start. We can play with much more composure and much more danger. Be a team, and have a good spirit and that is what we saw today. It is not always about what I said. I said we have to act and not talk a lot and make sure you are a team and battle and be brave and give each other options.

"I said to [the players] we have to act, not talk a lot. Make sure you are a team and battle and be brave. It's not only about spirits out of possession. Sometimes strikers think they cannot do it because they have to save their energy for offensive actions. Nowadays it's a demand and that is what you saw. It makes me happy that Rashford and Sancho scored the goals. I am happy with the performance but we have to bring it every game. Don't just bring it against Liverpool. Every Premier League game is difficult, we need to bring it to every game. It starts, once again, with the spirit." 

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said “It's obvious we are in a tricky situation injury-wise, we get through the week with 14-15 senior players available, we have to make sure none of them get injured because there's no real options left any more. Even with our situation, but playing a little bit better, if we were a little more convinced about what we do we should've won this game. I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's how I see it. They were really aggressive in the beginning, it was absolutely clear what would happen. Reality shows if we are really ready, and in the beginning, they were more aggressive than us, they hit the post and it was a hectic game.

“Then they scored the goal, and we took over, and played the game we wanted to play, more or less. We were unlucky with situations, especially around set-pieces. I don't know how one ball didn't go in, in a game like this against an opponent like United it would be very helpful if we could score in that moment and go in 1-1 at half-time. Conceding the second one doesn't help, and then we score ours and then it's a hectic game with a lot of interruptions – and not the result we wanted. Maybe they were [sharper], that's not right of course but when we calmed down we were there. We had an extreme number of shots for an away game at United, we should use more of these moments if we do that." 

Also read: Newcastle and Manchester City share the spoils in six goal thriller