Manchester United vs. Liverpool: Louis Van Gaal and Brendan Rodgers Reaction

Manchester United took their sixth consecutive victory on Sunday, with a 3-0 drubbing of Liverpool at Old Trafford illustrating the current trajectories of both clubs-one on the rise, the other in decline.

Brendan Rodgers' position at the Reds' helm has been debated of late, but in spite of this most recent embarrassment, the Northern Irishman told Sky Sports there were positives to glean:

I thought we did enough to win the game. It epitomised our season a bit - we created so many chances today and David De Gea was man of the match. We also made defensive mistakes and that's what cost us today. We just couldn't get the goals.

It's something that's been our problem all season. If we cut out the mistakes, we'll be in with a chances of winning more games.

In a way, one can understand the manager's anguish. Raheem Sterling was fielded up front with Daniel Sturridge still out injured and Mario Balotelli struggling for form, but the English youngster fluffed his lines on several occasions.

It's another example of opportunities being let slip by the Merseysiders, with Rodgers going on to note, per BBC Sport:

We've just got to keep working, we know what the solutions are and hopefully the confidence will return. We came here last season and it was the reverse scoreline, today we were the better side in the first half but you can't concede the goals we did. We nearly went in front and they went up the other end and scored because we lost our runner from the midfield area.

Today, we created opportunities which we haven't been doing. I'll keep searching for the solutions. It's been difficult this year but that's the way it works. It's clear we haven't scored or created enough goals.

Manchester United retain third place and move back to within five points of second-spot Manchester City. Meanwhile, Liverpool stay lodged in ninth and are at risk of falling back into the bottom half, pending Tottenham and Everton's Week 16 results.

Being the perfectionist he is, Louis van Gaal found ways for his side to improve despite their triumph, but was pleased overall when speaking to Sky Sports (h/t BBC Sport) after the result:

I think we have scored wonderful goals. We also kept the shape very good. In spite of the goals we gave a lot of chances away. That was every time we gave unnecessary passes away and that is how we have to improve. [...]

I'm proud we have a clean sheet but that is also because David De Gea has superb reactions. We scored fantastic goals - one-touch - and I'm very pleased with that.

The official Manchester United Twitter account quoted Van Gaal as admitting his side were the inferior outfit, but their accuracy in attack was the turning point:

Van Gaal feels #mufc were the better team today and deserved to beat Liverpool. 'We pressed from the front and that was the key,' he said.

- Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 14, 2014

As Rodgers noted, Man of the Match De Gea was in fantastic form throughout the win, at one juncture denying Sterling in a one-versus-one scenario and rejecting all that came in his direction.

Van Gaal also had praise to heap on his goalkeeper but was sure to make note of his defence, too, via BBC Sport:

You can always say that some players are the most influential in a game and of course David De Gea has a big influence. He did it very well but I can mention others who were also very good and had a big influence.

You can single out as many players as you want. Yes, Michael Carrick did well in defence. I said it was an all-English defence today but then Jonny Evans corrected me and told me his is from Northern Ireland. So a British defence.

Per Tom Williams of Agence France-Presse, Van Gaal was also eager to enforce that there was a certain amount of fortune in their victory:

Louis van Gaal: 'You need luck, but you can force the luck, and we are forcing the luck now.'

- Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) December 14, 2014

United won't be getting ahead of themselves with so long left to go in what was always certain to be a testing campaign under new boss Van Gaal.

With that in mind, the Dutchman went on to state his team will head back to the drawing board in training this week, noting the profligacy in possession as a particular area in need of addressing:

The last training session gave me a new injury with Marcos Rojo and it was unfortunate to change my line-up again. We gave unnecessary balls away today, that's not good. I will ask the players tomorrow why. I'm very happy but the next match at Aston Villa is important. We have had difficulty in away matches.

Alberto Moreno and Dejan Lovren were two figures in Liverpool's defence on Sunday who may have been held accountable for certain lapses at the back which allowed United to mount their lead.

Rodgers noted that a busy summer of spending at Anfield means some new players are still finding their feet in the Premier League, a factor in the result he told BBC Sport:

We had huge changes in the summer and that has taken time for us to find our way. The most important thing for me today was we looked like scoring. Over the course of the season we haven't been creative enough. Raheem Sterling was outstanding, his movement was great, he was just unfortunate not to get a goal.

I didn't think it was a 3-0 game. I thought we were the better team in the first half but we gave away disappointing goals today. I think it tells you everything that their goalkeeper was man of the match. Our creativity was good today, probably the best all season.

Had Sturridge been fit or Luis Suarez still a part of the squad, we could be looking at an entirely different scoreline, but United's clinical nature in taking their chances proved the difference between the bitter rivals.

For Rodgers, talk of a resurgence has been circulating for some time, but Sunday's defeat leaves them 10 points adrift of Van Gaal's men, a keen indicator of how far away they sit in terms of quality from the English elite.

Jon Super/Associated Press

A League Cup quarter-final in midweek will see the Reds take on Bournemouth in the hope that they can bounce back from a miserable trip to Old Trafford, while the Red Devils visit Aston Villa next Saturday.

Moving in opposite directions at present, the result also displays how quickly fortunes can change in the Premier League, with both teams looking miles apart from their standards of 12 months ago.

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