This weekend Manchester United face Liverpool for the third and last time this season and despite all the issues surrounding the two clubs this year, the previous two matches have actually been rather bland and disappointing affairs given the quality of players involved. In the first league meeting back in October, which will be forever overshadowed by what occurred between Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez, the game was disappointing from a tactical perspective. Liverpool’s goal coming direct from a Steven Gerrard free kick, and a poor one at that, whilst United’s equaliser again came from a set piece, Javier Hernandez glancing in a corner. Similarly the FA cup-tie last month was decided more by individual errors than either teams good play. Daniel Agger’s goal was again a result of a fairly routine set piece and some very ordinary defensive play from United; likewise Park’s equaliser, whilst well taken, was brought about by poor defending from Jose Enrique. The winning goal too was a long ball from Pepe Reina and yet worse defending from United.
With all this in mind, it is difficult to use the previous encounters to read too much into Saturdays clash. One key issue is whether Suarez will start in place of Andy Carroll. Given that both times the two sides have faced each other Kenny Dalglish has lined up in a 4-5-1 that occasionally became a 4-3-3, it seems unlikely that both Suarez and Carroll will feature from the start. Although Carroll’s performance in the cup tie at Anfield was one of his better in a Liverpool shirt, the fact remains that he and Liverpool barely threatened United until Dirk Kuyt’s out of the blue winner.
Another question for Liverpool is whether Craig Bellamy will be able to play, given that his troublesome knees often limit his involvement in consecutive games. However if Bellamy is able to play and Chris Smalling is unable to recover from a knock and resume his promising partnership with Jonny Evans, then the Welshman’s pace will cause the increasingly unstable Rio Ferdinand all sorts of problems. In recent weeks when worried about people running off him, Ferdinand has been dropping ludicrously deep. If this was to happen then the potential for Suarez and Gerrard in particular to be given room in front of United’s back four becomes a problem as will be the fact that the whole United team risks being pinned back.
At the other end of the pitch, Wayne Rooney has yet to start against Liverpool this year after being rested in the league encounter and missing the FA cup clash due to injury. It is hard to imagine Sir Alex Ferguson resting him for this clash with United needing three points to maintain pressure on Manchester City. With this in mind, how Liverpool deal with Rooney will be central to whether they get anything out of this game. As has already been discussed on this site Liverpool without Lucas can be vulnerable to players playing between the lines so whether Jay Spearing or Jordan Henderson are able to affect Rooney will be a key issue. Chelsea plainly struggled to deal with Rooney hence the introduction and subsequent failure of Oriol Romeu to try and curb the influence of the United number 10 last Sunday.
Equally the goal that Park Ji Sung scored at Anfield last month was a demonstration of the dangers of playing Gerrard in a midfield role as both he and Jamie Carragher allowed the South Korean to wander in to the box untracked. This has always been a danger of playing Gerrard in central midfield and a key reason why so many managers have not wanted him playing in a two man central midfield given his occasionaly poor positioning.
It seems unlikely that Carragher will be selected to play that role again and either Jay Spearing or Jordan Henderson, who are far more mobile and better on the ball than Carragher, will need to be on their guard. As has already been discussed on this site, Spearing is a player more suited to marking a specific man rather than sweeping in a certain zone whilst Henderson is far more of a box to box player than a “number six”. If Liverpool don’t get this area right it is hard to see them getting a result.
Despite the two rather mundane games between the two so far this season, I actually expect Saturday’s game to be a more open affair. The fact that United are at home and coupled with the fact that Rooney will play from the start should make them a more offensive proposition from the start. Ultimately the game may well be decided by a moment similar to those that have settled the previous encounters this season. A set piece or a defensive error but the chances of a more attacking minded game are certainly higher than last time.
Potential Line Ups
Manchester United:
De Gea, Rafael, Evans, Ferdinand, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Giggs, Young, Rooney, Hernandez
Liverpool:
Reina, Kelly, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique, Kuyt, Gerrard, Henderson, Adam, Bellamy, Suarez
Prediction 3-1
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