Manchester United’s wasted season under Ralf Rangnick exposed at Anfield as Liverpool highlight the gulf in class | Football News

They came in numbers and they sang. They always do. Manchester United’s away support might be the best in the country even when they know that their team is not. On Tuesday at Anfield, that last point was hammered home by Liverpool.

United could not even keep it level for five minutes. At least they restricted Jurgen Klopp’s side to four goals this time, one better than the five-goal rout at Old Trafford in October. There was brief resistance early in the second half but that was too little, too late.

It is tempting to say that the supporters had travelled in hope rather than expectation but how much hope was there? Without Cristiano Ronaldo and his ability to conjure something from nothing, it required an awful lot of faith with very little reason.

Klopp had talked it up as a meeting between the two biggest teams in England and it had that big-game feel right up until kick-off when the reality became clear. Liverpool were playing at a pace that United could not comprehend – let alone cope with.

Their trajectory feels so different as they chase an unprecedented quadruple that would not only leave their rivals in the shade but eclipse the outstanding achievement in Manchester United’s history. How can the gulf between the two be this great?

Thiago Alcantara was a class above most on this pitch but nobody in a United shirt came close. Luis Diaz, the latest find, was full of urgency from the outset. In contrast, Marcus Rashford was eased off the ball by Virgil van Dijk early on and hardly saw it again.

Alisson summed up the contrasting confidence levels with a Cruyff turn. Moments later, David de Gea hesitated when the Brazilian would surely have come out to clear. That led to the opening goal and Ralf Rangnick’s plan to contain and frustrate was in tatters.

Has a supposedly top team ever played with this little belief?

Gary Neville accused them of walking. Sir Alex Ferguson watched on stone-faced. Rangnick’s thrown-together team had only a quarter of possession in the first half. The Kop reminded everyone repeatedly that United had not touched the ball for some time.

At Liverpool, Thiago was brought in to put his foot on it. Manchester City did the same with Jack Grealish. Providing the pause when everything else is flowing freely has its place. At United, there is no rhythm to disrupt. It is all pause, one long indecipherable stutter.

While it might still seem astonishing that two squads on similar salaries can end up delivering such contrasting performances, there should be no mystery at all as to why. This is the product of perfect planning at Liverpool, while United are yet to implement a plan at all.

Perhaps the arrival of Erik ten Hag will mark a sea change at Old Trafford. If the Dutchman is given time and trust, his body of work so far suggests that his employers will be rewarded. But that is for the future. The verdict on the here and now came on the pitch at Anfield.

This has been a wasted season.

By giving only the illusion of meaningful change, United have spurned this opportunity to rebuild. Five months have been consumed hardly bothering to process Rangnick’s pressing style only to pursue Ten Hag and his possession game anyway.

Rangnick’s consultancy role was never clear but maybe that was not the point of it. Much like Joel Glazer and his talk of fan consultation in the wake of the failed European Super League initiative, short-term optics rather than long-term strategy have been the priority.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left in November and the charitable interpretation of what has followed since is that lurching through to the summer was the best that Manchester United could muster. Writing off a season when the highest-paid player is an ageing icon.

That never stood up to scrutiny. Did it need to be this way?

Clearly, the time could have been better spent. Antonio Conte took the Tottenham job just 27 days after Rangnick arrived at United. Half a season later and he has assessed the squad, changed personnel, system and style. The plan might not work but at least it exists.

Mid-season appointments need not be short-term fixes. Klopp, Brendan Rodgers and Thomas Tuchel all took their current Premier League jobs in such fashion and found that period to be useful. Tuchel even managed to win a Champions League in the process.

How have United used that time? Players that might have been dispensed with earlier have continued to pick up a salary, their moves blocked with the club seemingly in stasis. Others such as Rashford, who it was hoped could be rejuvenated, now look lost.

If Solskjaer seemed too close to the club to diagnose its problems, too vested in the message that the progress was real, Rangnick has appeared too distant. His analysis has been accurate but delivered as if he is helpless to stop it, merely an observer to the malaise.

Rangnick spoke of a lack of intensity, then a lack of physicality. Creativity has been a concern. He had improved the defence but against Norwich was still left bemoaning United’s knack for conceding goals than no other team does.

It is no way to go to Anfield.

And so, Liverpool exploited that nervousness. Neville had feared they would be eaten alive and so it proved, the indecision exploited. Low on confidence, lacking in belief, they must wish the season would end – but it is Arsenal and Chelsea next.

‘Imagine being us’ read the banner in the Kop. Nobody at United really wants that but they can only dream of the crystal-clear vision at Liverpool. Further indignations await unless they can embrace what Ten Hag is offering. This needs to be a turning point.

Nemanja Matic has now confirmed his intention to move on and others will surely follow. Perhaps history will yet judge Rangnick’s time kindly, a necessary precursor to a new era, his struggles in the job only highlighting the scale and depth of the need for change.

But on this April night at Anfield, as Liverpool scored and the Kop roared, it was difficult to think of new beginnings for Manchester United. Only a reminder of their fall – and a long wait to do something about a decline that shows no immediate signs of coming to an end.