Amid the carnage, there were (just about) patterns of play and a tactical story to detect.

“It’s like being back at school,” was Jamie Carragher’s assessment for Sky Sports, and it’s hard to argue with that analysis of such a fretful, breathless and uncontrolled 90 minutes at Old Trafford.

Amid the carnage, there were (just about) patterns of play and a tactical story to detect.

Klopp’s high-risk full-backs should have had Liverpool out of sight
Liverpool were in total control at the break, having amassed 15 shots to Man Utd’s zero, and while they were superior in virtually all areas, the most important characteristic was Klopp’s use of full-backs.

Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford have long been the best and worst of Erik ten Hag’s side; they rarely track back, which leaves the United full-backs with far too much to do, but it also means they start high up the pitch, ready for quick counter-attacks.

Klopp deserves credit, then, for taking a risk by instructing Andrew Robertson and Conor Bradley to both push forward, despite the threat it would leave on the break.

And Robertson moving into space behind Garnacho was a constant feature of the first half.

Once in these wide positions, Liverpool consistently looked to cut the ball back (rather than drive to the byline or cross behind the United centre-backs), a deliberate tactic designed to capitalise on United’s midfield consistently being too far apart from the defenders.

That gap between centre-backs and central midfielders has become infamous, but while most of the time we see this exploited by passing or running straight through the centre, (and Liverpool did a lot of that, too), here Liverpool used cutbacks to find the space.