BBC Sport pundit Troy Deeney has now named one “excellent” Manchester United star in his Team of the Week after the 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Sunday.
Ruben Amorim’s men defied the odds and produced a superb performance in their first match of 2025 against the Premier League leaders at Anfield.
Manchester United had a poor end to 2024 after losing four matches in a row across all competitions, including three consecutive Premier League defeats.
However, Ruben Amorim’s side could have snatched all three points in their Premier League showdown with rivals Liverpool towards the dying stages of the match.
Lisandro Martinez broke the deadlock in the second half at Anfield and fired United into the lead with a stunning finish past Liverpool No 1 Alisson.
Cody Gakpo cancelled out Lisandro Martinez’s second-half opener before Mohamed Salah successfully converted from the spot-kick and put Liverpool 2-1 up.
However, Amad Diallo stepped up in the 80th minute and the United winger netted an all-important equaliser for the Red Devils to secure a crucial point for his side.
Deeney on Man Utd star vs Liverpool
Manchester United climbed to 13th place after Sunday evening’s 2-2 draw and the Red Devils are 13 points adrift from the Premier League top four.
Ruben Amorim’s men are currently seven points above the Premier League relegation zone after winning only six of their 20 matches this season.
Speaking on BBC Sport, Troy Deeney named Amad Diallo in his Premier League Team of the Week and praised the Ivorian attacker for his display against Liverpool.
He added that the 22-year-old Ivory Coast international could become the “main man” under Amorim and Amad could soon face a “lot of pressure” on his shoulders.
“The Anfield draw was a coming-of-age game for Diallo,” Deeney said.
“Every now and then you have a game where everyone goes ‘there he is’ and to do it for Manchester United against Liverpool, who are flying high and everyone thought they’d win by six or seven, he was excellent.
“The problem he’ll have now is that everyone will expect him to deliver those performances week on week.
“At such a young age everyone will start to look at him as being the main man under this manager so he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders coming soon, but for now let’s just appreciate how well he’s doing.”
Amorim on Man Utd’s ‘focus’ vs Liverpool
Speaking after the result at Anfield, Ruben Amorim played down the impact of the midweek break and insisted that United showed more “focus” with their display.
“I don’t want to use that [the midweek break], but of course, when you train, you understand better the way we play, the positioning, the characteristics of the teammate, those things are really important,” he said at his post-match press conference.
“But I don’t want to use that today. Today is all about the focus when you are playing football, the focus on set pieces, the focus on passing the ball, not in the sloppy way but in the way that we cannot lose one ball because in the other part of the pitch is Salah, is [Luis] Diaz, so you don’t lose the ball.
“If you lose the ball in some parts of the pitch, you know you are going to suffer. If you have that mentality, you are a different team and I think that is clear.”
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