Liverpool must learn these lessons from Man Utd draw or risk letting their title grip slip

The medium-term focus at Liverpool has been split now for some time, given that off the pitch, there’s the lingering prospect of arguably the club’s three biggest talents leaving on free transfers in summer.

Ahead of the visit of Machester United, the biggest focus from that trio was inevitably on Trent Alexander-Arnold, given Real Madrid’s not-so-subtle interest in his signature.

Yet ask most supporters around Anfield and it’s the other two they might be most anxious to sort out: Virgil van Dijk is captain, but also the best centre-back in the Premier League, perhaps on the planet. Arguably the best performer on the sodden park on Sunday evening, he served a reminder of why it will be so important to keep him around.

And in Mohamed Salah, Liverpool have the finest all-round attacker in the top flight, again quite possibly in the world, certainly on recent form and productivity – while not his best performance here, he still notched another goal from the penalty spot.

Yet it wasn’t enough for the three points and the eventual result, 2-2, perhaps serves as an important reminder that, in the more immediate term, on the pitch it’s the chase for points and prizes which means most, more than keeping any individual in place.

Even so, some help more than others in that regard, mind. Liverpool won’t exactly be panicking. They remain top of everything and chasing multiple trophies. They increased their lead at the top by a further point, and still have a game in hand.

Yet if the first half against their old rivals was slow and sloppy, it was the final 20 minutes which might give Arne Slot more concern this time.

So often under Jurgen Klopp and now again under their new Dutch head coach, Liverpool have shown powers of recovery to produce big finishes, dramatic comebacks, exemplary responses to setbacks and conceding first. When they did so again here, scoring through Cody Gakpo’s individual brilliance and Salah’s buried penalty, it seemed they were back on track and doing all the usual things right – but the control after the chaos never materialised.

“It feels two points dropped. It’s not so easy to take control if the other team plays every ball into your last line, in the air with duels,” Slot explained after the match. “That is what makes it difficult, we couldn’t control it completely. It’s not so easy to take control against that playing style. We had to do better in the goals we conceded but every manager will say that.”

Instead of shutting down the game, Liverpool opened it up. Instead of making Man United graft for the ball, they gifted it to them. While the crowd urged the home side on for a killer third, Van Dijk was left screaming at his fellow defenders for abandoning their posts, leaving spaces wide open, not getting back after giving away the ball.

Both full-backs were culpable more than once, both for chances on goal and for leaving United with overloads in the late stages of the game. Alexander-Arnold in particular took the brunt of Van Dijk’s ire; the right-back was particularly involved in United scoring their first, and almost offered them a third with a wayward pass too. Robertson, meanwhile, has been caught multiple times this season in the same manner: beaten by a runner from his flank to a ball from the right. That was United’s second goal, this time.

But this wasn’t two dropped points solely down to two players. Challenges were lost, touches were unsure, chances were missed.

Conditions can be factored in too; snow gave way to unending, relentless rain, levelling the playing field somewhat perhaps. The stadium brought some familiarity too for those travelling to L4: a leaking roof isn’t just found at Old Trafford, apparently.

And if Alexander-Arnold didn’t exactly sound the bell on the day that he’s the one everything must be done to accommodate and get signed up, Van Dijk certainly did.

The Dutchman made countless headers clear, produced a terrific recovery run to block a clear Diogo Dalot shot on goal and blocked off an overloaded counter-attack later, too.

Slot’s Liverpool, though, have made a habit of finding a way to overcome the obstacles thrown at them this season. Even when not winning they’ve regularly performed impressively, overcoming a red card or injuries or other difficulties to take positives when they couldn’t take all the points.

Yet the Premier League has a brutal way of serving up reminders that teams must be at their peak nearly every time they take to the pitch, or else results will not go the way they expected. “It doesn’t matter the place or opponent, we need to face every match like that,” said Ruben Amorim after the game, underlining exactly that. There’s no space for half-measures or comfort zones when it comes to the very elite.

A late, spurned Harry Maguire chance almost made that be the case once again in more stark terms than a two-apiece draw will seem, but ahead of kick-off few were giving the visitors much chance at all. They haven’t won in four in the league, but they’ll see this far more as a point gained than their hosts will.

Liverpool’s first half of the year has given them the gap at the top to mean this result, as a one-off, isn’t immediately impactful – but they must take the lessons quickly to ensure they stay there.