Liverpool staff couldn't believe their luck against Man Utd and off-camera reaction proves it

Liverpool was left deeply frustrated in three separate outings against Manchester United last season, with Jurgen Klopp unable to make his side's superiority tell. In stark contrast, some of Arne Slot's staff could hardly seem to believe how easy it was at Old Trafford .

An apparent breakthrough from Trent Alexander-Arnold was chalked off by VAR, but it didn't take long for Liverpool to carve Manchester United open again. Aided by a tricky afternoon for Casemiro , the Reds had a two-goal lead by half-time.

Two became three shortly after the break, with Mohamed Salah getting one for himself after creating two for Luis Diaz . There was some brilliant football on display from the visiting side, with Slot's vision really starting to take shape.

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But for all Liverpool's brilliance, it was pretty dire from Manchester United, who looked beset by all of the same problems from last season (funny, that, with the same manager bungling hopelessly along). It was telling that Slot's side already seem to have a far clearer collective identity.

Even more simply than that, Man Utd served up constant individual errors. It wasn't just Casemiro, with Kobbie Mainoo equally at fault for Liverpool's third.

And according to the Manchester Evening News , there was utter bemusement on the Liverpool bench at times. Slot's staff were stunned at some of the basic mistakes from Manchester United.

"Some of the Liverpool analysts are putting their hands to their head in disbelief at United players' mistakes," Samuel Luckhurst wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Yet if the analysts had been doing their job, they should not have been unduly taken aback by Manchester United's performance. The mistakes were all the more damning because they are nothing new, in an era where there is precious little room for optimism at Old Trafford.

This was the latest hopeless chapter of the Ten Hag era. And Liverpool will be delighted and relieved to have finally made full use of the Manchester United incompetence, extending Slot's perfect start to life at Anfield .

Liverpool.com says: What a weekend. First Everton's capitulation from 2-0 up, and now a resounding win against Man Utd at Old Trafford.

We bring up Everton because that result, too, was so funny in part because it was not even that surprising. Manchester United, too, is starting to make a habit of incompetence, although that should not detract from Liverpool's brilliance.