Premier League 2022/23: Man United – 3 key tactical areas that led to their shock win over Liverpool

How quickly the narrative can change around football. Just 48 hours ago, the perceived chatter surrounding Manchester United was that they were in trouble as their new coach, Eric ten Hag, was off to a difficult start.

This was, of course, on the back of defeats in the opening two matches of the 2022/23 Premier League season against Brighton and Brentford. The issue though wasnt purely with the defeats but with the nature of the performance, as United were comfortably outclassed in both matches. With that storyline permeating every aspect of the football club the last thing that many wanted, supporters especially, was a visit from fierce rivals Liverpool on Monday night.

The reality was though that this was a Liverpool side who had also started their season slowly with draws away to Fulham and at home to Crystal Palace. Their performances were largely forgotten about as United sat at the bottom of the Premier League table.

In the end, this match has firmly switched the prevailing narrative around the Premier League as Man United ran out 2-1 winners on the back of some brave and decisive coaching decisions from Ten Hag.

In this tactical analysis we will break down the key tactical factors around this match.

Team news

The headline-grabbing team news came from the home side with club captain Harry Maguire and talismanic forward Cristiano Ronaldo both dropped to the bench. We saw Raphael Varane brought into the defensive unit to partner Lisandro Martinez while Marcus Rashford shifted from the left side of the attack to play in a more central role with Anthony Elanga coming in on the left wing.

Straight away these changes appeared to give United a sense of poise but also a really dynamic attacking threat with Rashford, Elanga and Jadon Sancho all having the capacity to make aggressive runs behind the opposition defensive line.

Li