By Catherine MacKenzie (14/03/2025)
Above: the scoreboard at Anfield. Photo: @LiverpoolFCW on X
Liverpool beat Manchester United 3-1 at Anfield on Friday evening, thanks to an Olivia Smith brace and a Nagano goal.
When Liverpool men play Manchester United, the walls of Anfield ring with the voices of over 60,000 fans desperate to see their team take bragging rights against their fiercest rivals. The two most successful English clubs in the men’s game have an enmity that is rarely surpassed; stronger than other regional conflicts, there is deep-rooted emotion steeped in the histories of Manchester and Liverpool. The two cities of the industrial-North share an unparalleled passion for football; in the men’s game transfers between the clubs do not happen, and games are frenetic.
The region has also been home to some of women’s football’s most important historical figures – such as Lily Parr and the Dick-Kerr Ladies, who famously defied the FA’s 1921 directive that women should not be allowed to play football. It is arguable that the area should be at the forefront of the women’s game today rather than besieged by off-pitch headlines and overshadowed by their London peers.
Fans and pundits have often complained that the WSL lacks rivalry between clubs that have traditionally always been at odds. Whilst Arsenal and Chelsea have forged their rivalry due to their domination of England’s women’s football landscape, clubs farther from London have struggled to replicate this competitiveness.
This showed on Friday evening as Liverpool hosted Manchester United at Anfield in the WSL for the first time. Ahead of the game, United manager Marc Skinner spoke of the ‘spirits’ of Anfield; interim Liverpool boss Amber Whiteley talked about the importance of the Anfield crowd.
They were urging match-going fans to create the noise that forces games between their clubs’ men’s teams to become more than a tactical game of football. This noise is perhaps what those fans and pundits want the league to develop – the pure passion of taking on a fierce rival that can be seen in the International game, and in other leagues (such as Frauen-Bundesliga games between Bayern and Wolfsburg).
On this cold Friday at Anfield, they were not successful. A relatively meagre crowd did not create the noise Anfield is known for; but to be fair, they were given little reason to for the first hour of the game.
Manchester United, sitting above Liverpool in the table and on a seven-game winning streak, dominated the opening stages. Despite this, they did not score, and did not really create that much. Over 60% possession with little to show for it, United missed chances from Terland and Clinton, and looked fatigued and flat.
Liverpool’s main strength was their patience. They were patient on the ball, carefully choosing passes that would give them the most momentum. United let them do this, and there was little tenacity from the visitors. When Liverpool did have the chance to break forward, they were confident and took advantage of an uncharacteristically poor showing from the United defence. The team that had only conceded six goals in fifteen games conceded their seventh and eighth and quickly looked bereft of ideas.
The home side were also physical, acting as if they did realise in the end that this was supposed to be a game between two intense rivals. They prodded at United in the hopes of getting them to make sloppy decisions, and this proved successful when they were awarded a penalty to make it 3-0.
United showed more impetus following the introduction of Sandberg, Miyazawa and Malard. However, these substitutions came in the 69th minute when the game was already beyond reach at 3-0, and there was little real impact the newcomers could make. The one positive for United came just before full-time, when Maya Le Tissier got on the end of a Miyazawa cross to make it 3-1.
Liverpool interim boss Whiteley makes it three wins from three. She has also implemented enough organisation and confidence that the Liverpool hierarchy will surely be looking at making her position permanent. For United, the outlook is less positive – their hopes of Champions League football and a top-3 finish now rely on achieving positive results against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
TEAMS: LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Laws, Hinds, Clark, Matthews, Bernabe, Kerr, Nagano, Smith, Hobinger, Kapocs, Haug. Substitutes: Evans, Enderby, Daniels, Micah, Fahey, Shaw, Parry, Bartel.
Scorers: Smith (42’), Nagano (45+2’), Smith (67’)
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): Tullis-Joyce, George, Turner, Le Tissier, Riviere, Clinton, Janssen, Galton, Toone, Bizet, Terland. Substitutes: Sandberg, Mannion, Miyazawa, Williams, Malard, Middleton-Patel, Naalsund.
Scorer: Le Tissier (89’)
Referee: Amy Fearns
Attendance: 15,596
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