It is, at least historically, the greatest adjustment in English football.
Liverpool opposed Manchester United never digs it into the complicated generate a hyperbole, and today’s assembly in Anfield will not be the exception, however, it has rarely happened with such abyss between the two teams. Thirteen recently separated the two main rivals, the local Arne slot team that tracks its visitors from the most sensible Premier League ranking.
With such different moods in both clubs, we asked our opinion to our Liverpool Andy Jones and his United counterpart, Carl Anka.
Anka: Quite sinister. Aside from a last-minute win in the Manchester derby, December 2024 has been a month for United. Rubén Amorim’s men lost six games and conceded 18 goals (including two directly from corners), and there was some sincerity about the relegation battles. Amorim’s brief honeymoon as head coach is over. We are increasingly perceiving that the team he inherited in November is far from qualifying for the Champions League and much less from competing with Liverpool for the title.
Advertisement
Jones: Even with the lingering contract questions over Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, the optimism and excitement surrounding Liverpool is infectious. Top of the Premier League by five points (with two games in hand), top of the Champions League’s new 36-team league phase after six of the eight matchdays and into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup later this week, new coach Arne Slot’s start has been the stuff of dreams.
Liverpool worked hard to get there, now it is a consultation to convert a position of force to the cutlery. They have been the consistent and maximum team so far this season and, in Mohamed Salah, they have the maximum form of form in Europe, even in the world.
They have lost just once in Slot’s first 27 games in all competitions. If the existing trajectory continues, their Dutch head coach may be heading for good fortune in his first season in the fee, but the tension builds from here.
Anka: I’ve been reporting on United full-time for The Athletic for almost five years and I think April 2022 at Anfield represented the biggest gap. There was no doubt that that day Jurgen Klopp’s team would defeat the rabble of Ralf Rangnick’s interim command. The only question was whether they would try to score a goal and their goal difference against Manchester City in the name race, or try to score a bunch of goals early and then try to keep their legs for the race with a bit of speed. . substitutions.
What is worrying about the current situation is that there are now fewer apparent tactics with which United can close the gap at Liverpool in the next 18 months. The look of the location can become a point on the horizon as Amorim writes the bases.
Jones: Probably not in my lifetime – and I was born in 1998, for those wondering. The only period that bears resemblance has to be those dreadful months in 2010-11 under Roy Hodgson. The biggest similarity? Relegation being a reasonable thought for both sides. The difference? Liverpool moved on from Hodgson quickly that January and began to build again, and while there were some further years in the wilderness, it wouldn’t be long before United were beginning their own post-Alex Ferguson descent, while Liverpool appointed Klopp.
Advertisement
In the 4-0 win, Carl commented that Liverpool were at their peak under Klopp and that United were an organisation of Americans who lacked identity and ability. With Slot, Liverpool is starting to get closer to levels again. United now have a coach with an identity, but he still resembles Americans who lack identity and ability, with only a few other faces. Are they worse today than in April 2022? His position and league form recommend it.
go further
Liverpool or Manchester United: Which club is bigger? – The Debate
Anka: “Oh look at me! I’m Liverpool and I’m at the top of the Premier League and the Champions League! We have some of the most productive players in the league! They are so smart that our enthusiasts now spend hours on Internet wondering if they are the most productive in this position in the history of the Premier League. The top forward midfielder is the result of a clever tactical rejig by our charismatic Dutch coach, who has a haircut like the last Dutch coach of! Manchester United! Our great challenge is to know how we are going to renew the contracts of our most brilliant players. The most likely player who is already leaving us has an internal lining!
Grow up. Spend £60million on an attacking dud. Have an embarrassing news story involving food hygiene. Get some real problems. Stop spending your money so sensibly.
Jones: Drawing inspiration from a new Liverpool favourite — social-media troll Neal Maupay, who happens to be a striker at Marseille on loan from Everton: “Whenever I’m having a bad day I just check the Everton Manchester United score and smile.”
United’s struggles have a normal comedy source for Liverpool followers. The fall of a wonderful rival that has spent so much time dominating the Premier League will never age, because they will possibly begin to do Wellarray things . . . right?
Every summer, United spend huge sums of money yet remain in constant reverse, bouncing from one controversy to another. It serves as a reminder of the importance of a stable ownership and leadership team. Even if Liverpool’s current hierarchy have been far from perfect, when it comes to the transfer market they have repeatedly got it right.
Advertisement
Jones: If we’re talking about the boring stuff like fanbase size, history and all the rest then yes, it probably still is. However, it can’t be viewed as the biggest match anymore.
Putting on my tin hat and running into the canopy: what would be a titanic clash of names seems, from Liverpool’s point of view, to look more like the Merseyside derbies in fashion in recent times. Two clubs in other grades with Liverpool favourites to win, but the other team able to get a result that day.
Anka: No, but it should be. A match between these two with title ramifications for both has the potential to be a commercial juggernaut few teams, or sports, can match. This is a fixture that can break viewership records for Sky Sports. In theory at least. The Premier League’s main UK broadcaster has even tried to create a spectacle in the past — remember the dreadful ‘Red Monday’ match between sides managed by Jose Mourinho and Klopp in 2016 that ended in a dreary 0-0 draw?
Anka: If I had an honest, convincing and credible response to that, I would probably leave my role here in Atlético and verify to do it as a Pro Club analyst. This united team has a pronounced technical and physical disadvantage compared to Liverpool, so even the “typical downward hunker, obstructs the center of the field, see to adapt to the counterattack. “
That said, the appearance of the location is rarely very good when it comes to attack scenario. This could help Amorim team to avoid any imaginable merit in the space behind Andy Robertson. The 30 -year -old has been an excellent Liverpool server so far. It seems a little worse for wear this season. If United writes, it will probably be on its flank.
Jones: It looks like you will have to involve several Liverpool players who have a day off. Given Amorim’s insistence on playing his system, it is difficult to see him establishing himself as a HAG ten last season to win a 0-0 draw, a defensive block that has to leave its half slightly.
The type of performance of the indiré who opposed Manchester City last month may be the model. The difference is that Liverpool are a progressive attacking force, while Pep Guardiola’s outgoing champions need this season to finish from early November.
Advert
Ibrahima Konate’s availability is unclear, so fellow centre-back Jarell Quansah may be a target. He made the mistake for Bruno Fernandes’ goal at Old Trafford last season and has had a tough first half of this one, dropping from second choice to fourth.
Jones: Fernandes may produce this moment of genius out of nowhere, but Amad’s pace and franchise seem to be the most likely path for United to a positive result on Sunday. He single-handedly cancelled out the Manchester derby in a few minutes and in one of the highlights of Amorim’s brief tenure.
As Carl says, it has not been the smoothest season for left-back Robertson, and Amad’s skill set is the type that could cause him problems. If his team-mates can find him in the right spaces, it could be their way up the pitch.
Anka: It’s Salah. The Egyptian king no longer fired the defenders for the speed as he did when he arrived at Anfield. Nor does the round -trip defensive races that were vital to gain cutlery in 2018 and 2019. But it has become an attacker with maximum efficiency. There are no unnecessary movements, nor an ounce of fats in the 32 -year -old. This is the most productive that has been as creator of games in the first league, and its purpose figures are incredible.
There is much more to Liverpool 2. 01 than Salah’s brilliant brilliance. But it is their brilliance that is helping push a smart team into one of the few big groups in Europe right now.
Anka: Ask Clubber Lang.
Jones: It’s difficult to look past a Liverpool victory, but I expect it to be tougher than many seem to think. I’ll go for 2-0, but with the second goal not coming until the final 15 minutes.
(Main photos: Getty Images)