BEEP!!!
With the referee's whistle, the North West Derby officially began!
Ling passed the ball back to Nemanja Matić from the center circle.
Manchester United's formation quickly spread out, advancing forward and utilizing the full width of the pitch.
Although Jose Mourinho had emphasized defense before the match, it didn't mean they would surrender possession indefinitely from the first whistle.
If they could seize the initiative early and catch Liverpool off guard, the rest of the match would be much easier for Manchester United.
Jurgen Klopp, of course, had prepared for this.
He didn't start the highly attacking Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back but opted for the more defensively solid Nathaniel Clyne, precisely because he anticipated Manchester United's early attacking push.
On the left flank, Paul Pogba received a diagonal pass from Matić.
He initially intended to break through using his individual skill, but two defenders quickly closed in around him.
Under intense pressure from Mo Salah and Georginio Wijnaldum, Pogba ultimately chose to play a quick through ball down the wing.
Peter Drury: "The ball is transferred to Marcus Rashford's feet. Since returning to his favored left-wing position, his form has been improving day by day! He receives the ball with his back to goal, turns past his marker—smooth movements!"
Against Liverpool's famously high-intensity pressing, slow, possession-based play was meaningless.
United had to use a fast tempo to prevent Liverpool from establishing a solid defensive block.
In this regard, Manchester United and Liverpool shared similar attacking philosophies today.
After dribbling past Clyne, Rashford looked up from the left side of the penalty area and spotted Ling arriving near the edge of the box.
Without hesitation, he decisively played a cutback cross into the center.
Ling controlled the ball firmly in front of him, setting himself up for a long-range shot!
But Virgil van Dijk didn't retreat this time. Instead, he aggressively stepped forward, closing down Ling's shooting space instantly.
But he didn't lose his balance entirely, carefully managing his speed to avoid being beaten.
'Just as expected..' Ling thought.
Peter Drury: "Ling sets himself... oh, the classic fake shot and cut inside! He tries to buy the yard of space!"
Jim Beglin: "Wow, Van Dijk reacted quickly there, Peter! He kept up with him at great speed! A direct, heavyweight confrontation between the two!"
At this point, Van Dijk was nearing the absolute peak of his career.
Without a doubt, he ranked among the top three center-backs in world football at the time.
And it was difficult to find any weaknesses in his game.
Ling tried to burst past him with explosive speed but found Van Dijk sticking to him like a shadow.
In truth, Van Dijk's physical attributes weren't necessarily superior to Ling's raw pace—after all, a 27-year-old's physical capabilities couldn't quite match the explosive burst of a 19-year-old.
But Van Dijk's defending had unique, world-class characteristics.
He excelled at occupying space, forcing opponents into making the poorest attacking choices before stepping in to intercept or disrupt.
This was the art of Van Dijk's defending: compressing space!
While dribbling, Ling glanced around and noticed his teammates were tightly marked, with no clear passing options available.
Suddenly, he realized Van Dijk was closing in on him rapidly to make the tackle.
Without hesitation, Ling swung his right foot and struck the ball with force!
Because of the extreme pressure, the shooting space he created wasn't ideal and the ball was pushed wide by goalkeeper Alisson Becker's diving save.
Seeing Manchester United's key player being contained by their star defender, Liverpool fans in the Kop couldn't contain their joy.
They made mocking expressions, laughing and gesturing wildly at the pitch.
"Manchester scum, isn't that your area? Why didn't you score?!"
"Look at the power of your shot—my grandma could hit it harder!"
"Did you waste too much energy on women last night?!"
"Corner kick, mark your positions!" Ling ignored the vile taunts from the Liverpool fans, waving calmly to his Manchester United teammates.
Although he had only been in the Premier League for a year and a half, he had already encountered countless similar situations and was long accustomed to being taunted by opposing fans when playing away.
Scoring goals was the only language that could silence them.
Following their set corner kick tactic, Manchester United players quickly took their positions, engaging in fierce physical battles with Liverpool players in the box.
Peter Drury: "Just a few minutes into the match, and Jeremy Ling has already contributed a shot on goal to test Alisson."
Jim Beglin: "So far this season, Manchester United have scored 11 goals from set pieces, topping the charts among Europe's top five leagues. This shows how incredibly efficient United are at utilizing dead-ball situations!"
Peter Drury: "With a towering average height of 182cm, Manchester United players naturally hold a significant advantage when contesting aerial balls. Here we go! Let's see if Manchester United's corner kick can change the scoreline early on!"
Riyad Mahrez curled the ball with his left foot toward the near post in the penalty area.
Harry Maguire, charging in from the back, barged past Fabinho and Naby Keïta, meeting the ball squarely with his forehead.
Thump!!!
The ball rocketed toward the goal.
Unfortunately, Van Dijk reacted swiftly at the near post, heading the ball away from danger and back out into the penalty area.
Amid the chaos of the second ball, Ling made use of his long legs, poking the ball toward the goal with the tip of his boot through a crowd of bodies.
But Alisson was already prepared, diving sideways to clutch the ball firmly between his safe hands.
"Get back! Get back!" Seeing the attack had come to nothing, Ling loudly urged his teammates to retreat into their defensive shape.
Both teams' formations seamlessly shifted toward Manchester United's half.
Alisson, immediately after getting up from the turf, hurled a powerful throw-out to the right flank to launch a counter.
Wijnaldum and Pogba engaged in a fierce aerial duel near the halfway line.
The Dutchman, leveraging his momentum, leaped higher to head the ball forward into the path of Mo Salah up ahead!
Liverpool, too, aimed to exploit their rapid tempo to tear through Manchester United's still-forming defensive line.
Even though Salah had suffered a severe shoulder and back muscle injury last season after being pulled down by Sergio Ramos, he could still unleash terrifying speed. (This happen in UCL semis here)
"The only player in Europe's top five leagues to score over 30 goals yet fail to win the Golden Boot," was how the media described Salah.
While he appeared indifferent to individual awards on the surface, deep down, he had long wanted to face Manchester United again to prove he was a better forward than Jeremy Ling.
Worried about being easily bypassed by Salah's pace, Luke Shaw didn't recklessly press forward to meet him.
Instead, he turned his body sideways and quickly retreated toward his own penalty area.
He was trading space for time, allowing his defensive teammates to get into position.
Jim Beglin: "A very experienced defensive strategy from Shaw! Since his own major leg injury, Shaw's raw speed is far from what it used to be, but his defensive technique and positioning have matured significantly to compensate."
Peter Drury: "Yet, in reality, he's only 23! It just goes to show that injuries are a footballer's greatest enemy!"
As they entered the thirty-yard zone, Luke Shaw slightly angled his body outward, deliberately leaving a gap for Salah to cut inside toward the highly congested central area rather than letting him run down the wing.
Salah seized the bait, darting into the middle onto his favored left foot.
"When space is limited, just the right amount of physical pressure and tight marking can minimize Salah's impact," those were Mourinho's exact instructions before the match.
Nemanja Matić was already waiting there, closing in on Salah the moment he touched the ball, pressing him tightly and aggressively!
With no other option and no angle to shoot, Salah had to pass the ball back out to Fabinho.
The Brazilian defensive midfielder, recently signed from Monaco, possessed a stronger attacking instinct than most in his position, along with excellent vision.
Against other teams, he might struggle to showcase his full passing abilities due to being rushed.
But Klopp's high-intensity, fast-paced tactics masked his weaknesses, turning him into the most crucial piece in Liverpool's rapid transition between attack and defense.
Fabinho delivered a sweeping long diagonal pass without even stopping the ball.
The ball dropped precisely toward the left side of the United penalty area, where two figures engaged in a desperate race of speed.
Although Sadio Mané had a fiery temper, his ability was unquestionable.
Even though Aaron Wan-Bissaka had been specially trained in 1-on-1 defending by Ling recently, it was difficult for him to keep up with Mané's blistering pace onto the bouncing ball.
So, Wan-Bissaka resorted to the simplest, most cynical method—targeting the man, not the ball!
He shoved Mané.
Soon, the two tangled legs and fell to the ground together near the byline.
"What the hell are you trying to do?!" Mané got up without another word, aggressively pressing his forehead against Wan-Bissaka's.
"What am I doing?!" Wan-Bissaka shot back, not backing down an inch. "I'm doing you!"
Players from both teams immediately gathered around, pushing and shoving.
The match had barely begun, yet a major conflict was already brewing, making Anfield even noisier and more hostile.
Fans from both sides flashed international friendly gestures, warmly greeting each other's families with explicit chants.
Referee Martin Atkinson arrived belatedly to the scene and simply pointed toward the sideline.
Throw-in.
Liverpool players quickly shifted their focus from fighting Wan-Bissaka to using words to pressure the referee.
This was their home ground, after all!
Not only was there no home-field advantage in the officiating so far, but it even seemed biased toward Manchester United's physicality—something they absolutely could not accept.
But Atkinson's attitude was resolute. "Gentlemen, I have my own standards for making calls today. If you continue to surround me, you will definitely start receiving yellow cards."
"As long as the officiating is consistent for both sides, we have no complaints," Van Dijk said firmly, pulling the furious Mané away from the referee.
After the chaos on the field subsided, the match resumed.
Liverpool had a specialist throw-in coach named Thomas Grønnemark, who had spent 15 years studying throw-in tactics and techniques.
He firmly believed that throw-ins were a highly underrated, powerful weapon in the attacking third.
(A video once widely circulated online showed a person throwing the ball 50 meters with a gymnastic backflip—that person was Grønnemark).
Keïta wiped the wet ball clean with his jersey and retreated all the way to near the advertising boards to take the long throw.
The result was quite dramatic.
...
On the Sky Sports commentary desk in England, Wayne Rooney laughed heartily at the foul throw.
"Hahaha, Steven, this guy is even wearing your famous number eight jersey! Do you have any thoughts on that throw?"
"None!" Steven Gerrard's lips twitched uncontrollably in annoyance.
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were also bickering constantly on the panel, drawing the amusement of many fans tuning in.
Earlier in the show, Carragher and Neville had made a bet: the loser whose team lost the match would have to wear the other's club jersey and run half a lap around Anfield during the live broadcast.
Neville had no desire to become a laughingstock in English football for the next 20 years!
...
The camera shifted back to the green pitch.
Liverpool players were too exasperated to complain to the ref. They had finally regained possession deep in United's half, only to give it away so easily with a foul throw.
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