The dust may have started to settle on the circus that was Liverpool’s outing at Old Trafford, but it leaves just as many questions as ever needing to be answered, writes Danny Gallagher.
Perhaps, at this point, we’re out of answers entirely.
Two goals down inside 15 minutes, defenders not communicating, a goalkeeper that very much looked fourth-choice, a midfield unable to retain the ball or string a meaningful counter-attack together.
Liverpool improved as the game wore on, though this was in large part also due to how lacklustre Man United now are, despite their upturn in form.
37% Ball Possession 63%
2.34 Expected Goals (xG) 0.88
18 Total Shots 13
3 Big Chances 1
Make no mistake about it, the match at Old Trafford looked like two punch-drunk old has-beens having a pop at one another. Nobody in the Champions League will be fearful of either of these teams next season, in this current shape.
And yet, Liverpool had options and moments to potentially turn things around.
However, very in-keeping with the shambles that has been the season, the entire game was ultimately lost in one moment.
Arne Slot’s Rio Ngumoha substitution went needlessly wrong
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - Sunday, May 3, 2026: Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha reacts to his shot going wide during the FA Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC at Old Trafford. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
With the score poised at 2-2 entering the latter stages, with lactate building in the legs, introducing the speed and trickery of Ngumoha felt like a solid call.
Yet it turned into confusion from the off.
The Sky Sports cameras captured the moment the 17-year-old entered the pitch and immediately signalled over to the left flank that he would be staying put on the right. An unusual move, given the teen always gets his cameos as a left winger, cutting inside in the 4-3-3 set-up.
But at Old Trafford, Liverpool were still set up in a more conventional 4-4-2 or a 4-4-1-1, meaning Ngumoha had momentarily taken to the pitch as an orthodox right midfielder.
Confusion clearly spread, and moments later Liverpool were behind.
Ngumoha needs to take a share of the blame, switching off as the ball was played easily in behind him by Matheus Cunha, finding the advanced run of Luke Shaw in acres of space. The cross comes in, is nodded down, fumbled as per by Liverpool and then Kobbie Mainoo picks out the bottom corner.
It felt like Liverpool had needlessly sucker-punched themselves. Yet what came next felt far worse.
Arne Slot made a quick tactical tweak, sending Ngumoha over to his more familiar left flank and reshuffling the team back into a 4-3-3.
The final 10 minutes of regular time then saw Ngumoha receive plenty of the ball, launching one direct run after another before cutting inside to shoot from distance in trademark style.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - Sunday, May 3, 2026: Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha during the FA Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC at Old Trafford. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Bittersweet indeed, given Liverpool were now chasing a draw rather than sniffing out the win. It begs the very obvious question of why Ngumoha wasn’t immediately placed onto the left and tasked with orchestrating Liverpool’s smash-and-grab attempt to get three points.
Calls have increased all season long for Ngumoha to get more game time, with the manager pointing out that, despite his increased minutes, he has other areas of the game to learn. This is most certainly true.
Even on the left, Ngumoha can often be seen lacking in situational or defensive intelligence, though this is the nature of someone who has only just left the academy nest.
Why, therefore, Slot tasked the youngster with an unfamiliar role at Old Trafford of all places beggars belief. This is the same Ngumoha who wasn’t even thrown on against Palace at home with Liverpool 2-1 up.
It suggests the manager sees the teenager as both a potential match-winner but also a possible liability. To introduce that profile of player in an unfamiliar position at United, at 2-2, feels wild in retrospect.
Liverpool are lacking leaders
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - Sunday, May 3, 2026: Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk reacts to conceding the first goal during the FA Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC at Old Trafford. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
It’s a talking point which is only going to dominate, unless specific steps are made in the summer window. This idea of dwindling leadership has especially grown legs following Mo Salah’s recent interview, in which he voiced concern over the maintaining of standards at Liverpool.
Salah noted how his peak years at the club were dominated by standard-setters, the likes of James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson.
He stressed how he now tells those around him to follow his lead of arriving before training starts, using the gym and staying well beyond the typical clocking-out time.
That Salah felt the need to share these worries suggests the internal decline of ambition is simmering. Salah is obsessed with legacy, and the concern in his message felt real – something which could turn out to be a stark forewarning.
A quick game of one-touch in the Old Trafford tunnel ??@LFC pic.twitter.com/zUPL9f4qeg
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 3, 2026
And so, off the back of this, it was somewhat disconcerting to see a group of Liverpool’s senior stars playing a game of one-bounce inside the corridors of Old Trafford before the big match.
Very nonchalant, seemingly as far away from ‘locked in’ as one can possibly be.
There is an argument to be made that disapproving of this is a very old-hat type of stance, but given that Liverpool went on to turn in yet another disjointed performance gives credence to distaste.
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“I want that standard in the club, it’s very important for the team to keep winning things, and this is one of the main concerns for me.”
Mo Salah
Mo Salah
On Liverpool ensuring the standards he helped set are maintained.
Everyone attached to the club right now should be fearful of where the big voices of tomorrow are going to come from. Salah and Robertson will depart in summer, and Alisson could yet follow them.
Only 12 further months will see Virgil van Dijk attached to Liverpool, and then what? Who in this current team is capable of providing the rally cry, the sweat-drenched energising bellows out on the pitch and in the dressing room? No obvious answers stand out.
Too many Liverpool players have given up
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - Sunday, May 3, 2026: Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister reacts to conceding the third goal during the FA Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC at Old Trafford. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
It’s a cardinal sin when you play for Liverpool, but so many of the current team look like they’ve already written this season off.
Given the horrific start to the campaign, the miserable run of constant injuries and the fact that Champions League football is very close to being confirmed, it does make some form of sense.
These lads want to get away and reset, at this point most of the fanbase does as well. But ending the season on a lower than low ebb does not bode well.
Players like Alexis Mac Allister have been in testimonial mode for most of the season, to the point where questions are being asked whether his former level is even obtainable again.
Ryan Gravenberch’s purple patch as the Premier League’s emergent No. 6 has come to an end, and Ibrahima Konate has suffered a confidence crisis in a season dominated by transfer speculation and his own family loss.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - Sunday, May 3, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot after the FA Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC at Old Trafford. Manchester United won 3-2. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Cody Gakpo has struggled with a greater expectancy on his shoulders in the absence of Luis Diaz, while many of the new signings appear confused as to where to apply themselves in amongst the melee.
It’s been a melting pot of every possible error for Liverpool this season, though the manager and the playing squad certainly haven’t made matters much better for themselves.
Losing at Old Trafford wasn’t the biggest surprise, but it was an exhibition in all the many things Liverpool need to change.
Turning a blind eye and spinning thinly veiled excuses won’t cut it any more.
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