Liverpool vs Manchester United: Andy Robertson’s disinterest in Jose Mourinho shows how far he has come

Other than Marcelo at Real Madrid, is there a more exciting left back playing in Europe right now than the former Hull player?

If self-justification is an outstanding feature in Jose Mourinho’s unique thought process, then his comments about Andy Robertson on Sunday probably related to something going on at Manchester United.

Luke Shaw, for example, had travelled to Anfield but was deemed not fit enough to be in the squad and he subsequently liked a Tweet which questioned Mourinho’s team selection before un-liking it – though that did not escape the attention of the internet warriors by that point.

Shaw, of course, is a left back and though his relationship with Mourinho supposedly improved over the summer, players tend not to forget when they have been targeted by managers for public criticism, just as managers tend not to change their views about players when they feel like they have been let down.

Shaw’s new contract changes nothing, really, because as a relatively young English footballer with Brexit coming, his value is likely to be maintained, particularly if a new manager – as expected – ends up leading United for most of the years included in the deal that was signed in October.

Football never seems to end in its search for symbolism and on Sunday the contrasts between Liverpool and United were displayed in so many different areas of selection, it was difficult to know where to start.

There was the tale of the two Brazilian midfielders; one called Fabinho, who gave a man-of-the-match performance and the other called Fred who was not playing despite costing more.

There was the movement of those wearing number 9; with Roberto Firmino’s endless effort to make space for his teammates conflicting with the stationary presence of Romelu Lukaku, whose labour left you thinking of alternative names for heatmaps.

The opponent Mourinho mentioned first, though, had been Robertson, whose crusade from left back automatically made you wonder whether Shaw would have been able to do the same had Mourinho decided to unleash him.

Probably not. Few of Jurgen Klopp’s signings have been duds but if pound for pound there is a best one, it has to be Robertson who was effectively traded for Kevin Stewart in the summer of 2017 – the midfielder now playing regularly at Hull City but not in the Championship and rather at under-23 level.

That Robertson did not seem particularly interested in Mourinho’s observations about him, which concluded with the word “incredible” being used, maybe reflects where Robertson is at compared to Mourinho. Other than Marcelo at Real Madrid, is there a more exciting left back in Europe right now?

“It is just part and parcel of my game, I will keep on going until the end,” Robertson said about the number of sprints he was able to make. “I got a bit of space, particularly second half and the gaffer is always banging on to me and Trent, more so this season. Special mention goes to [Nathaniel Clyne] Clyney, being out for so long and my God, he did brilliant. He has had his struggles with injury but he put in a first-class performance and that just sums up our squad at the minute.”

Like Robertson, Xherdan Shaqiri came from a relegated club in Stoke and is now playing a key role in Liverpool’s campaign, scoring twice against United. Robertson believes it helps not to carry the burden of a big price tag.

Robertson hailed Xherdan Shaqiri who also joined Liverpool from a relegated club (EPA)

“He is seizing his chance and good on him. You might go under the radar a wee bit and there might not be as big a deal made about your signing but you can use that to your advantage because it gets time to get your feet under the table. Shaq has hit the ground running, quicker than I did, so credit to him. He has learned the way to play and he has been fantastic all season and a real threat for us; his stats this season are very good, so long may that continue.”

“It has been a huge few weeks for us,” Robertson continued. “People maybe looked at the fixtures and thought ‘Everton, it’s a derby, always tough, Bournemouth, always tough, Napoli was a must-win and Man Utd speaks for itself’ and we have come out unscathed. But we need to move on from that. We can’t just rest on that and say, four games we have played well and take our eye off the ball. We need to stay focused 100 per-cent and look forward to the challenge at Wolves who have done well this season.”

Should Liverpool win at Molineux, they will be top at Christmas. Robertson was asked whether he thinks Liverpool will be able to stay there. His instinctively attacked the question before calmly finishing his response.

“Of course we do. We are in December, we know how tough this period is but we are top of the league. We have just got to keep this period going. We know how good Man City are, we have a bit of a gap that has opened up now [to third]; the two of us close to each other but we believe we can stay top. But there is a long way to go and we still have to play big games, starting on Friday night and we hopefully move on from there.”