Slot's Liverpool Showed Respect to His Senators and Made Child's Play of a Dismal Man Utd

Sunday at Old Trafford was a complete domination. Liverpool's experienced players ensured that there was no competition. The veterans, known as the senators in Italy, delivered a commanding performance just like they have throughout the season.

Mohamed Salah took the headlines - and rightly so given his involvement in all three of the visitors' goals. But he wasn't alone. Fellow veterans Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Andrew Robertson... they were all outstanding on the day. The old men stepped up. Not just for the occasion, but crucially, for the manager. Where this team fell away so, so badly over the second-half of last season, Arne Slot has managed to reinvigorate - and energise - the very same players. Yes, there's been tweaks to tactics and systems over the summer. But it's clear that this runs deeper.

In football, they say a board faces one of two decisions to revive a flagging team: sell the players or dump the manager. At Anfield, things were taken out of FSG's hands thanks to Jurgen Klopp. And with the same players available to him, Slot has reinforced the rule. A new face. A new voice. And suddenly those who appeared so weary, so tired, in May were hurtling around the Old Trafford pitch like they were ten years younger. 

And credit the manager. Slot clearly liked what he saw in preseason. He didn't walk through the Shankly Gates with any pre-conceived ideas about what he was inheriting. There was no reason for change, let alone revolution. His presence, as we witnessed on Sunday, was enough. The same message, from a different personality, and the players, particularly the senior ones, have responded.

And Slot has managed to do it with the futures of so many in flux. Van Dijk, Robertson, Alisson... they've all spoken over the summer about now looking beyond Anfield. Salah, at the final whistle, did the same. But they're still fighting for the cause. For eachother. All the while the board drags it's feet over new contract offers.

Salah stated after his goalscoring performance: "I was coming to the game, I was saying, 'look, it could be the last time'.

"Nobody in the club talked to me yet about contracts so I was just like, 'OK, I play my last season and see at the end of the season'.

"I feel I am free to play football – we will see what happens next year.”

Salah, as he would later say, has seen it all before. And you fancy, for him and his fellow senators, this is a partnership with Slot. Just tweaks. Minor adjustments. That's all that is needed. Back these title winners and they'll deliver for you.

"I managed to be involved in three so I am happy about that," Salah added. "The manager likes us to press high and there was a couple of mistakes and we managed to use them - it was part of the plan.

"With Jurgen we were always like this to get the ball as high as possible. Quite similar from seven years ago, the manager has his own system and we try to adapt that."

For United, there's no such experience available to Erik ten Hag. They've tried to import it, sure, but - as Casemiro's performance showed - this hasn't worked. In the end it was the stuff of men vs boys - literally. United's manager going after halftime with Toby Collyer and Kobbie Mainoo as his central midfield pairing. Brave? Ambitious? Sure. But against a team of Liverpool's quality, it was never going to work.

While Casemiro has borne the brunt of the flak, Mainoo also looked off the pace over the 90 minutes. Collyer had his moments and showed some clever movement and intelligent passing. But the breakneck speed of Liverpool's attacks had him blowing hard in the final 20 minutes. Physically the lad wasn't ready for such a step up. Again, it was men vs boys.

In the aftermath, Ten Hag spoke about "not being a magician". And to be fair, he was proactive with his substitutions and change of tactics. But United fell well, well short of expectations on Sunday. Last season's FA Cup run has set the standard for this team. Victories over Liverpool and Manchester City have shown the heights these players can reach. For their manager, such a drop in performance as we saw on Sunday is unacceptable.

For Slot, such concerns are yet to reach him. Indeed, things are running so well his defence are yet to even concede this season. Liverpool, with their stalwarts so inspired, really were so much better than their opponents on the day. 

And we'll leave this column to Salah to close. The Egyptian summing up the day and Slot's approach to the senior men since his arrival, "I agree with you (it was easy), I was a little surprised. The game could have finished five or six.

“The new manager comes with his style and he wants everyone to adapt, he had a few meetings with senior groups saying you need to set an example for the younger players..."