"Ruben Amorim's Liverpool Tactics: The Mind Games That Shook Arne Slot and Would Have Impressed Sir Alex Ferguson"

FREED FROM DESIRE was one of the first songs on the Manchester United dressing room’s celebratory playlist at Anfield.

None of the United players have a chant to the Gala classic that was released in 1997. Appropriately, won at 3-1 twice that year.

Ruben Amorim’s mind games before Man Utd’s win over Liverpool would have made Sir Alex Ferguson proudCredit: Getty It left Arne Slot in a tactical muddleCredit: Getty

Desire was etched on the faces of the United players throughout the evening at Anfield. was the pre-match.

“This is a good day to win,” one of the United senior players understatedly said on the team coach en route to Anfield.

United used to stay over on Merseyside before games at Liverpool and .

Sources say bad experiences at the Titanic Hotel convinced the team to abandon that preparation six years ago, so they prefer to travel to Anfield on the day of matches.

Maguire was heartily applauded on his return to the dressing room, clutching the man of the match award.

He had been kicking himself over his missed chance to win it at Anfield last season, though half-joked the there was an offside in the build-up.

Recalling Maguire was one of the three key calls by United manager . Restoring Maguire and to the starting XI, and retaining , all paid off.

Amorim gave serious consideration to benching Casemiro after two 90-minute outings for in and . Due to his later return time, he had only two team training sessions before kick-off on Sunday.

Liverpool-United almost always occupies the Super Sunday slot and that worked to United’s advantage as it afforded Casemiro, who turns 34 in February, more recovery time.

had replaced Casemiro for United’s first fixture after the September internationals at Manchester City, yet his eagerness to press was exploited in that 3-0 trouncing.

Amorim admitted in March he was “learning how to use players like Casemiro”.

The midfielder is leaner than he was two years ago and, like all great players, is starting to respect what he can’t do as much as what he can do in the twilight of his career.

Casemiro’s relative immobility ensures he is more positionally disciplined than the over-eager Ugarte. Casemiro’s average position was just below the centre circle.

As soon as Casemiro showed signs of cracking, he was substituted.

Amorim immediately substituted him after a fifth yellow card in six starts.

Ugarte is trying to copy Casemiro and had the best part of an hour to watch and learn.

The Uruguayan knew he would be needed as Casemiro was always due to be substituted in the second half. Ugarte emerged in the 58th minute.

Casemiro, Matheus Cunha, Bruno Fernandes did not train on Thursday and all started. They were officially given a day off but still reported at United’s Carrington training complex to do recovery work.

Cunha was a genuine surprise sprung by Amorim. The playmaker had started once in seven weeks and the Brazilian was so sloppy in the debacle at he was dropped the following week against .

Yet Amorim was encouraged by the Cunha, and triumvirate that was trialled in pre-season and then started the season against .

Mount and Mbeumo were certainties to start at Anfield but Amorim had opted for some pre-match mind games would have approved of.

By overemphasising United’s intention to play direct, the natural assumption was that would continue up front after two goals in two games.

Sesko’s demotion surprised everyone, most of all, Liverpool manager . Slot wrongly predicted Mount would lead the line for United when it was always going to be Cunha.

That exposed Slot’s overconfidence and he had been rattled by United’s direct approach in the 2-2 draw in January.

Cunha is still without a goal for United and also travelled to Japan and Korea, where he played 113 minutes across both friendlies. That he completed 90 minutes at Anfield was remarkable.

The £62.5million signing had the benefit of little playing time in the intervening weeks as Cunha missed four games for club and country last month due to a hamstring strain.

Amorim’s decision to go without a focal point could not have worked out better. It led to colliding into for an aerial duel seconds before Mbeumo scored in the second minute.

United players’ average positions showed that Fernandes, a central midfielder, was the most central player. Cunha actually occupied a deeper role than Mount, one of the two playmakers, down the left.

Maguire’s return was as much of a risk as Cunha. Dropping the speedy against the pacy pair of and – the forwards he was due to be in the closest proximity to – could have easily backfired.

United rode their luck as Gakpo struck the woodwork three times before he scored.

But Maguire was fresher than Yoro, who had been on international duty with Under 21s. And, as Amorim stated pre-match, is more experienced.

Yoro, a 19-year-old, does not have the same goal-getting nous as Maguire, becoming famed for memorable late goals.

Maguire has not played for in over a year. For , his last cap was in the European Championship final 15 months ago.

United managed Maguire delicately in the summer and this is the fittest Shaw has been in more than two years.

They are not lacking in desire.