Jurgen Klopp, who chastised Manchester United for their starting tactics, wasn’t for it. The Red Devils’ strategy appeared to be flawless from their point of view. It was a closely contested draw.

There was only one direction that the match could go before it started. Legendary Manchester United player Gary Neville believed they had “no chance” after seeing the team.

Gary Neville on Manchester United vs Liverpool

On a special Christmas episode of ‘The Overlap‘ podcast, Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright and Jill Scott all sat down and discussed the Manchester United vs Liverpool result.

Neville was asked by Carragher his thoughts when the teamsheet came in, to which he replied:

“I thought when the team came in, you know, I saw Jonny [Evans] and Raphael Varane centre-half and then I saw the midfield of [Kobbie] Mainoo and [Sofyan] Amrabat, I thought there’s just no chance.”

He continued: “I just didn’t think that team could keep a clean sheet.”

Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher’s counterpoint

Whilst Neville has a point from a defensive standpoint, his fellow pundits counteracted this by saying it wasn’t United’s fantastic defending that got them the draw and the clean sheet, but ultimately Liverpool’s poor attacking.

“If Liverpool had anything about the going forward and they were at their best – it’s a different story,” says Keane.

Carragher agreed: “Liverpool haven’t been at their best for a while.”

Whilst this may be true, Manchester United do deserve credit. Particularly Varane and Evans defended like their lives depended on it and the team in general produced a fine performance t arguably the hardest place to go in the Premier League.

West Ham United are up next for United. A tough trip to the London Stadium on Saturday awaits.