Match of the Day pundit labels Liverpool boss Arne Slot's Man Utd dig "massively unfair"

Match of the Day pundit Troy Deeney has labelled Arne Slot's Manchester United dig "massively unfair" after the Red Devils beat Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield on Sunday.

The visitors ended their nine-year wait for a win away at their fierce rivals courtesy of Harry Maguire's headed winner, which came minutes after Cody Gakpo had cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo's early goal.

Though Man Utd cut through Liverpool on a number of occasions at Anfield, Slot could not resist taking aim at their tactical approach after the game.

He said: "It's always difficult to play against a team that defend in a low block, that mainly plays the long ball, but it makes it even more difficult if you go 1-0 down after a player of ours is on the floor.

"And then, I think if you would have told me before the game that against a team that plays the low block, that plays so many long balls, we would've created as many chances as we did. I would've not expected us to lose this game."

The Dutchman's view was not echoed by those in the Match of the Day studio and Deeney was quick to jump to Man Utd's defence.

"It's massively unfair," said the former Watford striker on Sunday's edition of the much-loved football highlights show (BBC One, 10:30pm).

"I think they finally started to get it right down the right hand side, what Amorim has been trying to work on for a long time."

Expanding his point by talking through Man Utd's opener, he added: "We're going to highlight Mbeumo and Diallo on the right-hand side. They do go long from the goalkeeper, they're not expecting to win the ball, they're expecting Virgil van Dijk to win it, but they're landing on second balls.

"Bryan Mbeumo makes himself a nuisance but this is what [Amorim] is talking about when he's talking about pace and power, and the effort in every moment.

"[Diallo] runs past two Liverpool players, one of them being Virgil van Dijk. Lovely ball from Diallo, bang, great finish. After one minute, they're up and running."

Deeney added: "Down that right hand side, there were so many patterns of play they will be happy with."

Man Utd have moved to within two points of fourth-place Liverpool after Sunday's victory and have won back-to-back Premier League games for the first time under Amorim.

The challenge now is to make it three from three when Brighton visit Old Trafford on Saturday.

"It's hard for a lot of energy to keep doing it week in, week out but I think now, it's more about the mental, it's more about can they do it next week?

"Going into this game against Brighton, they're going to be favourites. They haven't been favourites in a few weeks, for them now to get used to winning games."

Liverpool will have a chance to snap their four-game losing run away at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.

Match of the Day is available to watch back on BBC iPlayer.

Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.