Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United

Opportunity lost.

We're more than familiar with terrible Liverpool-United matches. It's almost par for the course, especially since Mourinho. They're ugly as hell, no one plays well, as just as often as not, no one wins.

This was perfectly in keeping with that. Jose Mourinho might as well still be United manager.

But Manchester United at least had their reasons. Not only are Liverpool frequently capable of cutting open sides very open, but United had to deal with three injuries in the first 45 minutes, with Pereira replacing Herrera, Lingard replacing Mata, and Alexis replacing Lingard, all before halftime. I especially liked how Solskjaer went with a rushed-back-from-injury Lingard instead of Alexis, then needed to replace him with Alexis 18 minutes later.

So there's that. That, and Liverpool have not been good when sides have bunkered deep lately. See: 1-1 Leicester and West Ham, even 0-0 Bayern.

Liverpool were especially not good today. And especially in attack.

Credit where due and all that, but Liverpool were utterly awful in open play. With United sitting deep and narrow, Liverpool forced play wide, time and time again. James Milner, used at fullback with Alexander-Arnold just back from injury, had the most touches and played the most passes by far. I like James, you like James, everybody likes James, but that's not usually a recipe for success.

Liverpool played 26 crosses, about eight more than usual per match and 19 more than United played today. Milner was responsible for 17. Three found Liverpool players, with all three from corners.

I don't like when Liverpool's attack is based around crosses. It doesn't usually go well.

Two of Liverpool's grand total of seven shots came from open play. And both of them were from very, very far away. Just one of Liverpool's seven shots was on-target, one of those very, very far away shots from Daniel Sturridge a minute or so after coming on. It's the first time Liverpool have put just one shot on-target since a 1-2 loss against Palace back in April 2017.

That's now two matches in a row without a Liverpool goal. With a combined total of three shots on-target in those two matches. And at least Liverpool created decent opportunities against Bayern, for what that's worth. They very much did not today.

It certainly did not help that Firmino went off through injury in the 31st minute, casualties claimed on both sides, but that can't be the sole excuse. This ain't the first time we've complained about attacking fluency this season.

We can blame the midfield for not being creative enough; we can blame the front three for being off-color, with both Mané and Salah very below par and an very-underused Sturridge pretty much anonymous. We can blame almost every player for the lack of movement, for individual errors, for resorting to crosses too quickly and too easily; we can blame management for devising the attacking patterns or lack thereof. We can blame lots of things.

Even with all those United injuries, and Liverpool's possession dominance, Liverpool could well have lost that match. They probably would have in previous seasons. United had the only clear-cut chance of the match: Pogba's tame set play header at Alisson. Liverpool needed Alisson to charge out to deny Lingard getting onto Lukaku's 40th minute through ball, the play which saw Lingard injured. Matip had a set play own goal correctly ruled out for offside, but just. And Smalling probably should have gotten on the end of Lukaku's vicious cross in second half stoppage time.

That's far more than Liverpool can claim in attack. An indirect in-box set play all fouled up in the first minute, a wild Salah free kick from a great position after Matip's run in the 16th minute, off-target headers from Jöel Matip's Lego Head in the 44th and 71st minutes, and that's about it.

There's a reason that Liverpool have never had consecutive 0-0 draws under Jürgen Klopp. Because one of Liverpool's successive games without scoring has seen the opposition score at least once.

So there's that. This title challenge has been built on the defense and on clean sheets, after all.

Long story short, no one really played well, especially in attack. Players were complacent, build-up slowed, unpressured passes went every which way but well, no one could beat their marker, no one could create anywhere near a moment of magic. Crosses and set plays, the first, last, and only options of resort. Even the substitutions confused: Sturridge rather than Shaqiri with Salah going up front in the first half, Henderson not removed for Shaqiri and a change to 4-2-3-1 until the 73rd minute, Origi replacing Salah with ten minutes to play.

United had to make three changes before halftime and played with Rashford on one leg for the entire second half. And Liverpool couldn't push or punish them.

But at least Liverpool didn't lose.

That's now two games without a goal. Four draws in the last five matches. We'd like to pretend that there's no such thing as pressure, but Liverpool are not making it easy for us or themselves. Liverpool probably should have beaten at least one or two of Leicester, West Ham, and Bayern. Even matches previous – the helter skelter at Palace, the narrow win over Brighton – weren't especially great. Haven't been especially great for about, say, a month now. Since Manchester City's win over Liverpool reduced a seven-point gap to four.

And now that gap at the top of the table couldn't be narrower. One point separates Liverpool and Manchester City having played the same number of matches. City have a vastly better goal difference. City have a marginally harder schedule: still in all four competitions, at least until today's League Cup final, and a trip to United to come while Liverpool's only top-six games are at Anfield.

A draw at Old Trafford's not the worst result. But a draw at Old Trafford probably isn't good enough either.