Liverpool dominated possession but fell victim to defensive frailties as Marcus Rashford put them to the sword in a 2-1 victory for Manchester United.
Rashford twice exposed weaknesses in right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold’s play to put the hosts at Old Trafford 2-0 up by 24 minutes.
Liverpool fortuitously earned a way back in when returning Ivory Coast centre-back Eric Bailly put through his own goal after the hour mark. They then saw strong penalty shouts for Ecuador right-back Antonio Valencia’s handball and substitute Marouane Fellaini’s challenge go without punishment – both incidents involved Senegal forward Sadio Mane.
A second defeat in 21 top-flight matches now leaves Jurgen Klopp’s men five points behind second-placed United, with eight matches left.
Here are our ratings for the Reds.
LIVERPOOL 4-3-3
Loris Karius – 6: All the German goalkeeper had to do was pick the ball out of his net. On both occasions, was blameless. Made one superb tackle to kill a United counter-attack.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 4: A harrowing afternoon. Annihilated by fellow youngster Rashford. Also lacked any composure in possession. Fell over several times.
Dejan Lovren – 5: Was simply bullied by Lukaku. Lack of physicality made him culpable for both goals. Always has these nightmare games in his locker.
Virgil van Dijk – 6: Failed to properly connect with a glorious corner before United’s first. Took too long to take responsibility for Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, but improved.
Andrew Robertson – 6: A nondescript performance from the Scotland international. No glaring weaknesses, but will regret fact completed none of three crosses.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – 6: Were more guilty parties who stayed on the pitch. Made one key pass and had three shots. Precision was the issue.
Emre Can – 6: Possesses great quality, but didn’t show it at Old Trafford. Couldn’t get better of Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic, plus lack of pace was telling.
James Milner – 5: Made a nuisance of himself, three tackles a joint high for Liverpool. Yet his usual precision at dead balls left him after a promising start. Lucky to play full 90 minutes.
Mohamed Salah – 4: The defining player from Liverpool’s season disappeared at the worst time. The man with 24 Premier League goals only had one wild shot in the dying embers of injury time.
Roberto Firmino – 7: Easily the Reds’ best-performing attackers. Floated across United’s defence trying to sow seeds of doubt. Only regret was lack of bite behind his two shots on target.
Sadio Mane – 6: A mixed bag. Looked utterly clueless against United’s deep defence at times. Yet on another day, would have won two penalties for his side. Erratic, but always capable of magic.
58 - Only Manchester United (67) have profited from more own goals in the Premier League than Liverpool (58). Misdirected.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 10, 2018
SUBS
Adam Lallana – 6: Still finding his way back from injury. Had negligible influence, but his time will come.
Georginio Wijnaldum – 6: Seemed to be brought on at right-back, despite presence of much better options.
Dominic Solanke – 6: Had only five touches in just more than 10 minutes on the pitch.
