David Moyes finding United harder than expected

Manchester United manager David Moyes. Picture: Getty

Steven Gerrard scored two penalties and hit the post with a third – for which Nemanja Vidic was sent off – before Luis Suarez finally put United out of their misery.

Moyes had issues with some of the decisions made by referee Mark Clattenburg, not least Liverpool’s third penalty and Glen Johnson’s handball which went unpunished, but had the grace to say his side were outplayed.

“We didn’t play well, Liverpool deserved their victory,” said the Scot after a ninth league defeat of the season and a fifth at home. “Some decisions were correct, some were incorrect, but overall I’m disappointed. It is difficult to explain it.”

United have won just once against clubs in the top nine this season, and Moyes acknowledged that was clearly a situation that had to change.

“That tells you we’re not doing as well as we should be. We have to play better and make ourselves harder to beat, harder to play against and we are also going to have to make sure we are creating and taking more opportunities,” he said.

“We have a lot to do to do both those things.

“I think the job was always going to be hard. Yes, it is harder [than I thought it would be], I would say so.”