Liverpool look to continue their title charge when they head to Old Trafford. Bitter rivals Manchester United will be keen to play spoiler as they continue to grow and progress under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
After two back to back good performances Liverpool will look to hit full stride as the last few months of the season approaches.
United have been a different force since the Norwegian took charge and the club will look to improve their superb home record against Liverpool.
I spoke to Manchester United fan @SibsMUFC see what the mood is like in Manchester before the game.
First and foremost, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has done a great job since taking charge. What are your thoughts on the caretaker manager so far?
“It’s been an incredible 2 months. I thought we’d just limp through the rest of the season like Chelsea did after sacking Mourinho, nobody expected this at all. We’ve blown teams away with attacking football and we’ve also produced some very stereotypical Mourinho performances away to Leicester & Tottenham. It’s undoubtedly the best feeling around the club since Fergie retired. We’re enjoying watching the team again and the connection between players and fans is being repaired.”
“We’ve won every away game since the 3-1 loss at Anfield, including away wins over Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs in one season for the first time in 34 years. We’re somehow back in contention for top 4 when Ole’s remit was to simply make sure we didn’t fall out of the top 6.”
“After 3 dull, pragmatic managers who didn’t know their best team it’s the little things that are so refreshing. He talks positively about the club and its players like he wants to be there. It’s always “we and “us” not “me”. He is making attack-minded changes in search of more goals, not just sitting back or bringing on Fellaini to lump crosses in to. He knows what his best team is and how he wants to set up and when that team isn’t available he’s shown the tactical prowess to adapt.”
Do you want Solskjaer to get the permanent job?
“I’ve wanted Mauricio Pochettino as our manager for several years and that hasn’t changed, the club should do everything in their power to get him. However, I don’t think he has any interest in leaving Spurs and even if he did you know what you’re going to get from Daniel Levy.”
“My main fear is that Ole is too “nice” and doesn’t push for the changes that the club needs, as he’s happy just to be there. There are too many players at the club who shouldn’t be here and multiple areas of the team need addressing. Whoever our manager is next season will have a big summer.”
“I would appoint Ole on the condition that Pochettino is impossible.”
Is the change in boss the only reason for the massive change in form since José Mourinho?
“Mourinho had to go. He’d become insufferable like one of those dementors in Harry Potter who just sucks the happiness out of everyone around them. It was clear for a long time that he was waiting to be put out of his misery and that the squad had enough of him. Whilst he had legitimate concerns about our board and owners and was right to raise them, that did not excuse his behaviour.”
“I do think it helped that we had a favourable run of fixtures. Cardiff (A), Huddersfield (H), Bournemouth (H), Newcastle (A) and Reading (H). No disrespect intended but every top 6 club should look at that and think 5 wins. Momentum and confidence is a huge thing in any sport and getting such a convincing win at Cardiff was the perfect start. Our “performance” at Anfield was an absolute disgrace and confidence was at rock bottom, so if we’d had to play Spurs away after that things may have gone differently.”
What is the mood like amongst the fan base going into this game?
“Liverpool at home is always the first game that we look for when the fixtures come out and that will never change, the excitement is always there.”
“It is clear that Liverpool and City are a cut above the rest at the moment and this is our first opportunity to test ourselves against them. After an excellent performance away at Stamford Bridge we’re feeling good. I can’t wait until I’m in the ground on Sunday as the teams come out onto the pitch.”
What would you say is United’s biggest strength and weakness?
“Biggest strength is Pogba and Rashford. Stop those two and you stop United.”
“Our right-hand side has been a weakness for several seasons now and I expect Klopp to be well aware of this and to target it.”
Who has been United’s best player so far this season? And on the flip side who has been the worst?
“Everyone will say Pogba and Rashford, which is true, but I want to mention Victor Lindelof who has totally transformed this season from a bag of nerves into a dominant, imposing centre half who’s more than held his own against some of the league’s best strikers. He’s so good on the ball as well. The priority in the summer has to be to find him a CB partner, our Van Dijk.”
“As for the worst player, how long have you got?”
“Fred has been a disaster. £47 million for a player who’s looked like a headless chicken and is behind Scott McTominay in the pecking order. I’m not writing him off yet although the signs aren’t promising.”
“Antonio Valencia has been the worst player on the pitch in every game he’s played this season and no longer makes the squad. He’s not a natural full back but used to make up for poor positioning with his rapid pace, now that has gone and you can see how it affects his game. Will leave the club in the summer when his contract expires.
“Alexis Sanchez I’ll come on to later. All South Americans. South American players rarely succeed at United for some reason.”
How do you rate this Liverpool side?
“Very strong. I still feel the 2009 Liverpool XI is the best in my lifetime, but you had no depth that year. You have a few more options now.”
“Liverpool are so well drilled and organised, bags of energy with no obvious weakness. Klopp’s man management skills are fantastic, every player in that team knows his role and how to execute it to the letter. Even the squad players are coming on and having an impact on games, something that always happened with us under Ferguson. It’s easy to talk about how he’s not won anything on Merseyside yet, but he’s somehow got Liverpool into the top 4 despite having the weakest squad of top 6, somehow made the Champions League final and now he’s going toe to toe with an incredibly strong Manchester City. It’s moronic to suggest that would all suddenly be validated by winning the League Cup.”
“The fear factor is back at Anfield. Most teams are beaten before they get on the pitch, no opponent goes there and dominates the game. That’s how Old Trafford was for 20 years.”
“Regardless of who ends up winning the title, I think there’s an acceptance now that Liverpool aren’t going away. After their last two title challenges, they sold Xabi Alonso and Luis Suarez and disappeared for a few years. That’s not going to happen this time. They’re too well run on and off the pitch.”
What are you worried about most going into the game?
“There’s always going to be nerves because of how big the game is, even more so this season given the importance for both teams.”
“This is a very strong Liverpool side who will ruthlessly punish any mistakes whether it’s on the counter or from a set piece. We’ve got away with a few individual errors in the big games so far, Liverpool will not be so lax. Mane and Robertson up against Ashley Young worries me, especially if he gets booked early.”
What should Liverpool fans be worried about the most?
“This is a very different Manchester United side from anything that you will have faced in recent years. The intensity is a lot higher and I’m sure Klopp will be more conservative than usual with his full-backs to combat the threat of our front three. Rashford will be straight on to Alisson every time he has the ball.”
“Our midfield three is certainly capable of going toe to toe with yours and I know it’s a cliché but whoever comes on top here will almost certainly get the result.”
“Also I feel there is a lot more pressure on you than there is on us. I’m sure no Liverpool fan will need reminding that their recent record at Old Trafford is very poor.”
Paul Pogba is now arguably for the first time in his United career showing world-class ability at a consistent level. What has Solskjaer done that Mourinho didn’t to get the best out of the Frenchman?
“We finally have the Pogba we thought we were getting in 2016. We’ve said from day 1 that he would flourish in a more attacking system and now it has been proven. Ole has put Matic and Herrera behind him to enable him to have a completely free role, not too dissimilar from when Gerrard had Mascherano and Alonso. Instead of big lumps like Fellaini and Lukaku ahead of him he now has a vibrant, quick front three creating space to drive forward and making the runs to pick out a key pass.”
“He excelled for Juventus playing in the most advanced role of a midfield three, yet Mourinho hardly ever played him in that formation. Now you can certainly argue that a £90m footballer should be more adaptable and I agree to some extent, but when you have a player like that in your squad you play to his strengths. Ole has never shied away from this.”
“A lot is made of how he supposedly “downed tools” and has only started playing since 22nd December, but that’s a complete myth. Pogba was actually one of our better players in the early months of the season until he was ruled out of our trip to Man City with an injury. After that Mourinho did what he’s always done and made a scapegoat out of a key player. Plenty of our fans bought it, just like Chelsea fans turned on Eden Hazard. Pogba would have been desperate to have something to prove after all of this and he’s taken it.”
Two players I have to ask you about, are Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku. Both class players on their day, but haven’t been anywhere near good enough recently and are deservingly not starters. Thoughts on them and why things haven’t worked out recently?
“We didn’t need Alexis and his signing was more about stopping Manchester City from getting him than anything else, something I said at the time. He had a couple of good performances at the Etihad & Wembley towards the back end of last season and most of us thought that with a full preseason under his belt he could have a good 2018-19.”
“It really hasn’t worked out at all. His sudden decline has a lot of similarities with Rooney, where his football brain still knew what to do but his body could no longer keep up. The explosiveness he was known for at Arsenal is no longer there, he’s so poor in possession and I don’t think he’s got the energy to be playing on the wings anymore. He’s always coming into the same spaces as Pogba. I think he’d be fine as Rashford’s back up, but that role isn’t really acceptable when you consider he’s one of the highest paid players in the league. The club simply has to get his salary off the books.”
“Lukaku came back from the World Cup very sluggish and overweight and has never got going. He’s not someone like Firmino who has a very obvious impact on how his team plays even when he’s not scoring. With him, his all-round game is so poor that if he’s not scoring he isn’t much use. Under Ole, he doesn’t fit in at all to an interchanging, quick front three harassing opposition defences.”
“I wouldn’t sell him just yet, he’s better than what he’s showing now. Needs to lose some more weight and get his confidence back first of all.”
How big of a miss will Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard be if they aren’t passed fit for the match?
“A huge miss. Never thought I’d speak about Lingard in those terms!”
“Although clearly a limited player, we don’t have anybody else who brings to the team what Lingard does in terms of his pressing and movement. Anthony Martial is incredibly dangerous and has a vital role dropping in, picking out a pass and exploiting the space left by others. Those two along with Pogba and Rashford have all linked up together very well. I think half the problem is that we don’t really have anyone else. Mata, Lukaku and Sanchez have all been ineffective.”
“If they are out, we’ll most likely see the diamond formation that has been used to good effect in other big games.”
How do you see Solskjaer lining up the side?
“If Martial and Lingard are fit then the team picks itself. It’s been years since we’ve been able to name a settled XI. No more roulette wondering which 5 players will be dropped today.”
“Really the only debate is whether Bailly plays alongside Lindelof or if Smalling (who was excellent against Chelsea) keeps his place. I suspect Liverpool fans would be hoping it’s the latter.”
De Gea
Young, Bailly, Lindelof, Shaw
Herrera, Matic, Pogba
Lingard, Rashford, Martial
How do you see the match playing out?
“United Liverpool games are usually incredibly tense with “must not lose” being the order of the day, especially at Old Trafford. I expect the same approach on Sunday with both teams being very respectful of what the other can do to them.”
“Although I feel there’s more pressure on Liverpool to win. I do fear the weight of expectation gets to the players. A lot of us were probably overconfident ahead of PSG with Neymar and Cavani injured, instead, we got absolutely schooled by Tuchel and deservedly lost.?
“I’m going for a 1-1 draw. Rashford for us & Mane for Liverpool.”
