Luis Diaz of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC at Old Trafford on September 01, 2024 in Manchester, England.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Two goals from Luis Diaz and one from Mohamed Salah helped Liverpool stroll to a 3-0 victory at Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, with Erik ten Hag’s side humbled by their fierce rivals.

Liverpool dominated a United team who could not keep pace with them in the first half, the visitors taking the lead in the 35th minute through a back-post header from Diaz after United midfielder Casemiro had given the ball away.

Casemiro was again at fault for Diaz and Liverpool’s second, again supplied by Mohamed Salah, with the Colombia international sweeping home three minutes before the break, sending United supporters off for their halftime refreshments early.

With United on the ropes, Liverpool smelled blood after the break, Salah adding a third 11 minutes into the second half, but the visitors settled for three as they maintained their 100% record this season under new coach Arne Slot.

“The goals are always self-inflicted,” United captain Bruno Fernandes told Sky Sports. “You need to commit a mistake to give them the goal. We don’t need to be pointing fingers at everyone. that won’t help us now.

“When you concede a goal you can’t just point at one mistake. We don’t have to look at the past. We just have to make it different. We lost the game, congratulations to Liverpool, they were more clinical. I don’t look at the stats but the game was tight.”

Concern for United

After a positive summer in the transfer market and fresh faces in the boardroom, last week’s last-gasp defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion gave United supporters a stark reminder of the improvements still needed on the pitch.

Sunday’s visit of a Liverpool side who had lost just one of their previous 12 Premier League meetings with United will have caused a great deal of concern pre-match.

Those more pessimistic fans were fearing the worst as Trent Alexander-Arnold appeared to have fired Liverpool into an early lead at Old Trafford, only for VAR to step in and save the hosts, adjudging Salah to be offside earlier in the move.

United settled into the contest without troubling Liverpool down the other end of the pitch, allowing the visitors to pick their moments when they came.

Casemiro’s mistakes

Casemiro’s wayward pass ensured the Slot’s side did not have to try too hard to unlock their rivals, Diaz applying the finishing touch to get Liverpool up and running.

Diaz’s third of the season was another fine finish, but another Casemiro will want to forget. The flying Liverpool forward has now scored more Premier League goals against United than any other opponent.

Yet another mistake in midfield, this time from Kobbie Mainoo, was ruthlessly punished by Salah in the second half, the Egyptian cementing his pace as the highest-scoring opposition player at Old Trafford in Premier League history — seven strikes.

The visitors thereafter cruised to a victory that means Slot is the first Liverpool manager to win his first meeting with United since Bob Paisley in November 1975, and just the second to do so away from home after George Kay in November 1936.

My last season at Liverpool: Salah

While other Liverpool players celebrated their resounding success, Salah stole the headlines with his post-match thoughts.

“I had a good summer, a long time to stay with myself and think positively a bit, this is my last year with the club and I want to enjoy it,” the 32-year-old told Sky Sports.

“I feel I am free to play football — we will see what happens next year. Nobody in the club has talked to me about contracts. It is not up to me, it is up to the club.”

When asked about Salah, Arne Slot responded: “There is a lot of ifs, but at this moment he is one of ours and I am really happy with him,” he said.

“I don’t talk about contracts. He was impressive, like the first two games but if you talk about an individual, you don’t do justice to the other ones.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah celebrates after he scores his side’s second goal during the English Premier League match between Ipswich Town and Liverpool at Portman Road stadium in Ipswich, England, on August 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah allowed new Liverpool coach Arne Slot to get off to a 2-0 winning start at newly-promoted Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday.

Ipswich, cheered on by new minority shareholder and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran from the Portman Road stands, went toe-to-toe with Liverpool in the first half but failed to take their chances when they presented themselves.

Slot’s new side improved markedly after the break, taking the lead on the hour mark through Jota, before a fine move was finished off by Egyptian forward Salah five minutes later to effectively kill off the Ipswich challenge.

Liverpool had a host of chances to make the result even more emphatic, but two goals were enough to navigate Liverpool and Slot past a tricky first game of the campaign.

“Hopefully I keep going like this for the whole season,” Salah told TNT Sports. “I always try to help the team all the time, I’m always happy to score goals or assist.

“It’s quite different for all of us (playing under Slot), we need to adapt. We just need to know his way of playing and enjoy the football. We don’t need to put more pressure on him, we just need to play football and enjoy our games.”

In January, Juergen Klopp shocked the world when he announced he would step down as Liverpool manager at the end of last season, with the German saying his goodbyes to an emotional Anfield on the final day of the campaign.

The man with the formidable task of replacing Klopp, who won a Champions League and ended Liverpool’s 30-year wait for a league title during his time in England, is former Feyenoord boss Slot.

A quiet pre-season, with Liverpool yet to sign a single player during the close-season transfer window while their rivals have been splashing the cash, had some supporters worried ahead of the new campaign.

Their side’s first-half performance in the Suffolk sunshine, where the visitors could not muster a single shot on target, added to those concerns.

Slot’s side clicked into gear after the break, however, carving open their opponents with two fine goals, the first finished off by Jota after a pinpoint Trent Alexander-Arnold pass set Salah free before he squared for the Portuguese.

With Ipswich still regrouping, Salah, in his 350th appearance for the club in all competitions, netted superbly after being played in by Dominik Szoboszlai to seal the victory.

The 32-year-old now has more goals in the opening rounds of Premier League seasons than anyone else, and he looks set to play a major part in another Liverpool title tilt this term.