‘An absolute mess’: how football reacted to Man Utd’s Old Trafford embarrassment

Manchester United suffered a humiliating defeat at home to Liverpool on Sunday, with Jurgen Klopp’s rampant side running out 5-0 winners.

The visitors ran riot at Old Trafford and the shambolic nature of the loss piles pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Liverpool were totally ruthless from the outset, racing into a 4-0 lead at the break before Mohamed Salah completed his hat-trick with a fifth just five minutes into the second half.

Cue unconfined joy for the visiting fans, while thousands of home supporters had seen enough and opted for an early exit.

Neville: United were totally obliterated

Former United defender Gary Neville laid into his old club’s tactics and lack of effort against their biggest rivals.

“I didn’t think it would ever get as bad as that…that was an absolute shocker and the timing couldn’t have been worse,” he said.

“It’s been building now for a few weeks against what I’d call half-decent teams, but as soon as they played a proper team they’ve been obliterated, pulled to pieces, dismantled.

“I didn’t think they’d play like that today because I thought they’d flip a switch. But you can’t flip a switch in football.

“That group of players, they get outrun – they’re one of the lowest running teams in the league – and there’s nothing worse than being told you’re one of the lowest running teams in the league and the easiest to play against, but they’re both.

“It reflects poorly on the manager, the staff and the players.”

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Souness: Solskjaer didn’t have a game plan

Jamie Carragher described United as “an absolute mess”, while Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness says Solskjaer is to blame after United’s worst-ever home defeat to Liverpool.

The Anfield legend pointed the finger at a total failure of coaching and insisted United’s total lack of game-plan was exposed in the 5-0 humiliation.

“United are vulnerable, they’re between two stools, don’t know what direction they’re going in and that must be down to the coaching staff and the manager,” he said.

“Several of the goals they were caught between pressing and not pressing. They didn’t have a game plan. For Liverpool they were fabulous throughout. It was a sad, sad day for United.”

The result will ratchet up the pressure on Solskjaer to near-unbearable levels. But Souness paid a surprising tribute to the fans at Old Trafford who largely sat through the entirety of the game.

“Fair play to their supporters,” he said. “Most of them stayed to the very end.”

Maguire: That was nowhere near good enough

United captain Harry Maguire was on post-match interview duties for his side and apologised to the supporters.

He said: “First and foremost, apologies to the fans, it’s nowhere near good enough for this club.

“[The supporters] stuck with us right to the end, even when it was 5-0, they were singing, and we appreciate that. It wasn’t good enough.

“I think in the first half it was too open, I’m not here to analyse the game, we gave them too many chances, they were clinical, we had a lot of chances ourselves…defensively to concede four in a half of football is not good enough.

“To lose to Liverpool hurts. They way that we lost the game, it’s not good enough. We’re working as hard as possible but at the moment it’s not good enough.”

Carragher: It doesn’t get better than that for Liverpool fans

Sky commentator Carragher added: “I’m not trying to be clever, but I don’t think Liverpool were at their absolute best.

“Whenever they made passes, and got in and around the back four – it’s a joke of a back four the way they’re playing at the moment – they were just a mess, Keystone Cops type defending.

“Drink this in. You can hear the [Liverpool] supporters, it’ll never get better than that.”

Sutton: Solskjaer has to go now, surely?

Former Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger posted on Twitter that it was “a devastating day”, while Rio Ferdinand described the first half as “embarrassing…men against boys”.

Ex-Man City midfielder Nigel De Jong suggested the result reminded him of the 6-1 derby thrashing back in 2011.

On BBC Radio 5 live, Chris Sutton suggested Solskjaer “has to go” after the humiliating loss.

“We’ve stuck up for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer now but he’s been there for almost three years now,” Sutton said.

“With the signings at the start of the season you were thinking they have to challenge for the title, but I really don’t see any other way. He has to go, surely?”

How Liverpool’s crushing win unfolded

5 mins: Naby Keita opens the scoring

13 mins: Diogo Jota doubles visitors’ lead

38 mins: Mohamed Salah grabs his first of the game

45+5 mins: Salah adds a fourth before half-time

…leaving Ole Gunnar Solskjaer shell-shocked

50 mins: Salah completes his hat-trick

52 mins: Cristiano Ronaldo scores – but the goal is ruled out for offside

60 mins: Paul Pogba sent off 15 minutes after coming on as a sub

Despair for Sir Alex Ferguson

And thousands of United fans made for an early exit

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