		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>Midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri came off the bench to fire Liverpool back to the top of the Premier League and ramp up the pressure on Manchester United Jose Mourinho with a 3-1 victory.</p>
<p>The Switzerland international’s two-goal 20-minute cameo spared the blushes of goalkeeper Alisson Becker, whose 33rd-minute howler had gifted Jesse Lingard an equaliser the visitors barely deserved.</p>
<p>It was indicative of the mentality of the two managers that Mourinho sent on defensive midfielder Marouane Fellaini at half-time with the score at 1-1 while Reds boss Jurgen Klopp turned to Shaqiri when that scoreline had not changed midway through the second half.</p>
<p>That proved to be the masterstroke as he scored twice, both via deflections, to add to Sadio Mane’s 24th-minute opener as Liverpool beat United for the first time in nine league meetings.</p>
<p>Even with a game to chase Mourinho decided £89million midfielder Paul Pogba was not part of the solution as the French World Cup-winner was an unused substitute.</p>
<p>The goals United conceded meant they have let in more in 17 matches (29) than they did in whole of last season and trail leaders Liverpool by 19 points – they are 11 off the top four.</p>
<p>Liverpool’s high-intensity start was such that it almost seemed they could take and use possession at will as even when United – who started with a back three which quickly became a back five – had the ball, which was infrequent in the first half, the Reds won it back with ease.</p>
<p>It was no exaggeration to suggest they could have had three or four in the first half, which they finished having managed 15 shots but scored only once.</p>
<p>Roberto Firmino was at the centre of Liverpool’s maelstrom, hustling and harrying opposition players while delivering cutting interventions going forward.</p>
<p>The Brazil international started and finished a move in the second minute which saw Victor Lindelof scrambling to deflect his shot behind.</p>
<p>United thought they had stunned Anfield into silence when Ashley Young’s inswinging free-kick from the left went straight in at the far post but an offside Romelu Lukaku had tried to play it on its way through and he was rightly flagged.</p>
<p>Two more chances fell to Firmino as the red tide continued to crash against a dark blue wall, with Mohamed Salah going down in the six-yard area scramble to collect the rebound.</p>
<figure id="attachment_122270" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-122270" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ShaqiriCelebratesLiverpoolvManUnitedDec18_large.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-122270" src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ShaqiriCelebratesLiverpoolvManUnitedDec18_large.jpg" alt="Liverpool FC, Premier League, Manchester United" width="600" height="338" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-122270" class="wp-caption-text">2 goals from Xherdan Shaqiri helped put Liverpool back at the top of the Premier League table.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Young cleared a Dejan Lovren effort off the line and Firmino shot over – the ninth attempt inside 20 minutes – before the breakthrough was made.</p>
<p>Former United defender Gary Neville said his old side were “all over the place…like spaghetti bolognese” and Mourinho’s players managed to get themselves in a tangle in the 24th minute.</p>
<p>No one closed down midfielder Fabinho, excellent both defensively and going forward, and his measured clipped pass was chest-controlled by Mane who then cleverly allowed the ball to drop low enough for him to volley it between De Gea’s legs.</p>
<p>Lovren should have made it 2-0 but fired over from six yards before Alisson gifted the visitors an equaliser when he spilled Lukaku’s cross into the path of Lingard, who gratefully accepted six yards out.</p>
<p>Lukaku’s lack of sharpness – he was dominated by Virgil Van Dijk in the air and over the ground – almost cost him dearly as he tried to compensate for a loss of control over-stretching and clattered into Naby Keita, for which he was booked.</p>
<p>Mourinho had seen enough and sent on Fellaini in central midfield for wing-back Diogo Dalot at half-time as he reverted to a back four.</p>
<p>It did little to change the momentum as Firmino’s toe-poke was parried by De Gea with the goalkeeper and Young blocking Keita’s follow-up, while Lovren had a header deflected wide.</p>
<p>Three minutes after coming on Shaqiri struck, his shot rifling in off the crossbar with the help of a Young deflection.</p>
<p>He was not finished there, seizing on a Firmino backheel meant for Salah to fire past De Gea, this time with the aid of a deflection off Eric Bailly.</p>
<p>Television cameras turned to a grumpy-looking United chief executive Ed Woodward alongside an equally unimpressed United great Sir Bobby Charlton as Liverpool supporters chanted ‘Don’t sack Mourinho’.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed9ff035629">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed9ff035629',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
