David de Gea change was Liverpool FC's undoing vs Manchester United

Manchester United enjoyed a fruitful night against Liverpool at Old Trafford on Monday and one statistic could be behind the Merseyside club's undoing.

United completely turned around their performance from last Saturday to shock Jurgen Klopp's men at the Theatre of Dreams. Jadon Sancho gave the hosts the lead with an 'as cool as you like' finish which would have pleased some of the best in the world.

Marcus Rashford added a second after the break, following a VAR check, to send the Stretford End delirious. Mohamed Salah pulled a goal back for the visitors but it was too little, too late.

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Most of the United squad were on the lookout for redemption following the horror show at Brentford last Saturday not least David de Gea. The Spaniard shipped four goals in the capital, including one that went straight through his gloves seemingly.

However, against Liverpool he went some way to redeeming himself in the eyes of the fans. De Gea was much more assured in goal and supporters may have noticed a change to his distribution strategy.

Instead of playing the ball short at every given opportunity and putting his defenders under pressure, it would seem that United's number one went for the longer option on Monday. In total, 78 per cent of his kicks were long compared to 40 per cent against Brentford and 21 per cent vs Brighton and Hove Albion.

Meanwhile, United's average in terms of passes made per possession fell to just 2.45 against Liverpool whereas against Brentford it was 5.8. It will be interesting to see moving forward if the Reds adopt this more direct approach on a regular basis.

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