At Manchester United, the picture is only as good as the last result the team had and in their battling 2-2 draw at Anfield, they had a very good result.
Ruben Amorim’s men put out a performance that surprised even the manager as they went toe-to-toe with their fierce rivals and could have walked away with all three points.
Manuel Ugarte dominated the midfield, Noussair Mazraoui was the same in defence while Amad once again stood up when the lights were the brightest.
Lisandro Martinez had a rare goalscoring outing while captain Bruno Fernandes played with responsibility in a game where many United heroes emerged.
Three of those have made Alan Shearer’s Premier League Team of the Week.
Three Man Utd stars in Team of the Week
An argument can be made that even three players is too few, considering the context in which United arrived at Anfield, being marked as lambs for slaughter.
United were such heavy underdogs that after the game, even Virgil van Dijk demanded more respect for United, and Arne Slot echoed similar sentiments.
Still, Shearer limited the Man Utd representation to three while selecting his Team of the Week for the Premier League, with no selection debatable.
Lisandro Martinez, Diogo Dalot, and Bruno Fernandes were the ones to make the team as United had the most number of players from their team.
Nottingham Forest also had three and their manager was picked as the team’s manager this week, while Manchester City had two in Erling Haaland and Savinho.
Two players from Brentford and Raul Jimenez from Fulham rounded off the team as Shearer waxed lyrical about the United players he selected.
Shearer on Man Utd picks
Martinez scored the opener for United, Diogo Dalot ran Trent Alexander-Arnold ragged and Bruno Fernandes was at his leading best for the game.
Here’s what Shearer had to say for each pick from the Old Trafford outfit.
On Martinez, he said: “Put in some fine tackles and became the first Man Utd player to score at Anfield since 2018!.”
On Diogo Dalot, he said: “Really imposed himself as a left wing-back. He gave Trent Alexander-Arnold a torrid afternoon.”
He praised Fernandes’ captaincy credentials, saying that he answered Ruben Amorim’s plea where the Man Utd manager asked for leaders to step up.
Shearer said: “That’s much more like it from the United captain. Ruben Amorim asked for leaders on the pitch and Fernandes responded.”
Manchester United’s next game in the Premier League will be a challenge of a completely different kind as they host bottom-placed Southampton. Amorim has already laid down the gauntlet for the players to repeat this performance.
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