De Gea – Little to do throughout the game but quick off his line when needed. May feel disappointed with the goal he conceded. 6
Valencia – Helped support the attackers by showing himself as an option when possible. Lucky his slip didn’t cost us early on. 6
Smalling – Assertive from the start and gave the opposition little room to manoeuvre in. Bullied Balotelli into a tantrum. 7
Jones – A good performance where he made some key interceptions. His poor reading of the game on occasions could have cost him on another day. 6
Blind – Destroyed Emre Can for the full ninety minutes and even won a penalty. Growing into his new role. 7
Carrick – Dominated the United half and shielded the defence well. However, his error was what led to Liverpool’s only goal. 6
Fellaini – A monstrous display where he won everything that came his way. Took the pressure off the team late on with his aerial presence too. 8
Herrera – Bossed the midfield and held onto the ball wonderfully. His slick through ball set up Mata for the first and his tackle sent Gerrard off. Quality. 8
Mata – Magician’s performance as he scored the first with a wonderful finish. However, his second goal was something from a PS4 game. Incredible by all counts. 9
Young – Supported the defence well but will be a bit disappointed with his contribution going forward. Crossing was not his best. 6
Rooney – No one does “absolutely s***e” quite like Wayne Rooney does. Couldn’t control a bag of cement today and his passing was even worse than usual. To round up his annual bottling at Anfield, he even missed a penalty to seal the win. Shameful. 2
Subs:
Di Maria – A disappointing performance overall but his assist for Mata’s second was class. 5
Falcao – N/A
Other:
van Gaal – That’s the double over self-titled “football genius” Brendan Rodgers in his first season in Premier League football. First time in over a decade where we’ve played well at Anfield too. Dominated the game from the start and gave Liverpool no room to play in. Tactics were spot on and so were the substitutions. Only baffling part was seeing Rooney last the ninth minutes. 8
Referee – Correctly sent off Gerrard but should have sent Skrtel packing too. 7
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