90 minutes of Ander Herrera:
- 54 passes
- 10 interceptions
- 7 tackles
- 6 dribbles
- 2 clearances
- 1 blocked shot
Any objections, take it up with WhoScored.com.
Manchester United do not need Marouane Fellaini playing in the team to bolster their defence. Yes, it’s easy to get, he’s not there to replace Herrera, he’s there as a better defensive option to Juan Mata but there’s no real obvious effect that he brings that just can’t be ignored.
He made one interception against Liverpool, as opposed to Herrera’s 10. He made five tackles, as opposed to the Spaniard’s seven. And he blocked zero shots.
Defensively, Ander Herrera is United’s best midfielder and it just so happens that, generally, he’s also their best midfielder.
It’s rare that you find a man playing with so much bite and aggression – and playing on the edge as if he’s about to fall off it at any time – managing to keep his head. It’s rare that a ball-player of such class and assurance is so mentally and physically wired that he almost wants to run the channels just to plug a hole, not out of obligation but out of competitiveness.
Ander Herrera came to Anfield on Monday night and he was bloody pumped. He probably looked at the team sheet, saw who he was in midfield with and rationed that Jose Mourinho was never going to take Fellaini out of this fixture and that substituting Paul Pogba was never really option.
So right from the very first second, United’s number 21 played like he was about to be taken out of the firing line at any given minute if he didn’t get his act together. And, boy, did he have his act together.
Defensively
United took total control – in territory at least – throughout the first half of the game and most of that was to do with how they ambushed Liverpool with their initial defensive setup.
They weren’t happy to sit deep and break on the counter like most would’ve expected of a Mourinho team but they pressed the hosts high and fast and made the game so frantic that Jurgen Klopp’s men never got one second to settle into their rhythm and shift the momentum in the other direction at the other side of the pitch.
Ander Herrera was key to this.
Liverpool try to use a platform to launch an attack. Herrera sniffs it.
He’s up Emre Can’s backside before the German can even glance to have a look.
Whenever a job needed to be done, it was Herrera there doing it – the admin, the logistics, the labour.
Wherever the defending needed to be done, Herrera was there doing it and he was doing it with a nasty conviction that rocked the entire Liverpool attacking force back onto their heels.
But it was how he covered for his team mates that marked him out as a team man. A United man.
He wasn’t doing a job for his stats, he was doing it to make damn sure that his side didn’t lose this match.
Rashford falls asleep and lets Milner drift inside. Herrera closes down the loose Coutinho and blocks his pass to the edge of the box where two Liverpool men were queuing up.
Seconds later, he blocked a shot of the Brazilian’s.
Milner is free again so Valencia has to step out. Herrera spots the danger of Mané before Milner even receives the ball and he makes chase.
The result…
Bang.
Lallana tries to get in behind. There’s no way he will, not with Herrera around.
The Spanish international tracks him the whole way to the box and actually carries the ball back out with him.
It was a firefighting defensive display but he was only reacting to the space left by others. For the most part, for his part, he was acting, not reacting.
Offensively
United recorded their lowest possession percentage since the introduction of Opta and yet the man single-handedly pumping their heartbeat still hit over 50 passes.
Again though, his effect was so much more than the sum of the numbers. Herrera has bite but he has it moreso in his attacking play. His impatience on the ball is almost what makes him. He’s not happy to sit back, clock up stats, or let his team fall into a motion of apathy that had them strung up from pillar to post under van Gaal. He demands the ball and when he gets it between his feet, he’s only going in one direction.
A ball is played back to him here under pressure.
So he just glides past the challenge, opens the whole thing up, draws two further men to him and picks out Pogba.
This is just a touch of class that most men wouldn’t even dare to think about.
That opened up Liverpool and Valencia found Ibrahimovic at the edge of the box who should’ve done better with his shot.
He orders the ball almost out of pure annoyance off the conservative Fellaini.
Straight away, United’s intentions completely change because of how Herrera shapes his body.
He gives it to Pogba who gives it back to Fellaini so Herrera has to go even deeper again. He soon sorts it out.
And with one glorious pass, he gives Rashford half of the width of the pitch to take on Milner there who has been well sucked in.
Of course, Rashford doesn’t control it on his foot and the ball goes out of play.
Even his sideways passes to the full back were with the outside of his boot forcing his team mates to go forward as well.
When it looked like Herrera would have to go backwards…
He wouldn’t.
Here, he just ropes Jordan Henderson in and sends him to the shops.
Everything Herrera did, he did it with pure pride for the jersey and he did it with pure, unwavering quality too. He was relentless in his pursuit of the ball and, in possession, he was unapologetic with his aggressively attacking intentions.
He played on the edge, like a man possessed. He played like a football player on his toes worried that his manager was just looking for one reason to take him out of the action. He refused to give him half a reason.
But God almighty, if this Herrera ever loses his place, Jose Mourinho should have a lot more to answer for than just his timid caution.
This was one of the all-time great performances. This was Herrera at his very, very best and it was a thing of blood-thirsty beauty.
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