What a good weekend for United.

With Ipswich only drawing - that turned into a very good weekend for United.

I’m sorry. I’m being facetious, but the talk before the game at Anfield was all about United being relegated. Forget that if they can now build on the performance at Liverpool.

Second-half they were terrific. Over the piece (as my Scottish friends would say) they were the better team. If they’d won it - and Maguire should scored - Liverpool couldn’t have had any complains.

Which leads me to refer back to last week’s blog and ask the same question again - how good is this Liverpool team?

They couldn’t break down United’s low block. There’s no disgrace in that. If a team set up as United did it’s really hard to break down a well marshalled defence, but they should’ve done better. They lost control of the game in the second-half and never got going again.

I expected more from Salah, Diaz and others round about them. They were all too slow. They moved the ball too slowly as well and United were never really troubled.

And we shouldn’t criticise any team for strangling a game like United did in the first 45 minutes. Defending properly is an art form. It’s important.

If they’d only defended well I’d still have concerns about them. The week before they really did look like relegation contenders, but surely not now? There’s still a massive re-build needed, but there was signs of better things to come during the second-half.

As for TAA. There’s not a lot more to say isntherw? His performance proved that Liverpool should take Madrid’s £20m and settle the on-off transfer saga surrounding him. Clearly he’s leaving - so bring the issue to a head.

Never mind all the sentimental mis-guided nonsense being spouted by Liverpool pundits who should know better - get the deal done. Believe me - Liverpool’s season is not going to hinge on whether a bang ordinary ‘defender’ stays or goes.

I’m not saying he isn’t a good player - I just think his skill set is better suited to Madrid. Defending is not his strength. And the debate is a distraction.

One other thing. What was he doing in Venice between Liverpool’s last two games? James Maddison got hammered for attending an event in north London - from his home in north London - on a day off in north London Why has there been no questions for TAA to answer?

I’ve nothing but sympathy for Marco Silva. Of course Leif Davis should’ve been sent-off. And ref Darren Bond had a nightmare. Silva was right on both counts.

The PGMOL continue to bed-in new refs with games that they don’t believe are important. But ask fans of Fulham and Ipswich if their match at the weekend was important. Of course it was.

It’s an insult to teams of that stature to drop inexperienced refs on them. Why not send them to Old Trafford or Anfield? I think we all know the answer.

Two other big calls caused a bit of a stir. At Tottenham - if Andy Madley penalises Joelinton for handball nobody is going to question the decision. I know - by the letter of the law - he was correct not to because Joelinton didn’t score and it wasn’t intentional handball - but Newcastle certainly did benefit. Gordon had the ball in the net literally moments later.

Refs have got to apply common sense as as well as the laws of the game.

The same can be argued about the incident at Brighton. Yes - Saliba catches Pedro and the law says pen, but if Saliba goes down with Pedro is it anymore than an accidental clash of heads? He should’ve done. Taylor wouldn’t have given a pen then.

By the letter of the law Taylor was correct. But come on. If it really was a pen then why didn’t Newcastle get one at Spurs when Kulusevski smashed into Gordon? That one was also an accident, but Gordon was left bloodied and bruised. Pen? Yes - if we apply the same criteria as Taylor did. But no if we apply common sense.

Maresca was right. Chelsea are fake challengers. They’re weak.

Southampton are down. They’re an embarrassment. The club allowed Russell Martin to indulge himself far too long. That’s why they couldn’t find a proper manager to fill the void when they sacked him.

Don’t rule out Everton getting into serious trouble. I’m not a big Jordan Pickford fan, but he’s keeping them in games single handedly at the moment. The Toffees are poor and there isn’t a goal in them.

What are the odds on Lopetegui getting the sack after the cup-tie at Villa? I’d say pretty good. The Hammers are once again no more than they’ve always been - an ordinary bottom half team. What a shame clever Karen and co have thrown away all David Moyes good work.

It’s also a big week for Postecoglou. His starting line-up v Newcastle said he knows his season is all about the Carabao Cup now. We’ll find out a lot more about his team - and Liverpool - on Wednesday night.