The biggest mission in many sports is to overtake your main rival. In Formula One this aim might be literal, making the car faster and better to handle than the one you want to finish ahead of. In rugby, it might be to make your pack stronger and fitter than the current champions. In football, the demands of style and success are often focused on the actions of others.
They tell us different, football players and managers. They profess that they are concentrating on playing their ‘own game’, or ‘focusing on ourselves’. They say these things after studying videos of their opponents all week.
One of the most interesting battles to take the title in the world of football is the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United. The Red Devils have won a record 20 top-flight titles, but Liverpool’s incredible success in the extended 2019/20 season earned them a famous victory, their first in 30 years, to bring up their 19th.
How can United bridge the gap between the two sides – which last year stood at 33 points – to limit the chances of their North West rivals of making it to 21 titles before they do?
Obviously, they could win the league games between the two sides. If that had happened last season, the gap would be only have been 24 points. But that is still a canyon to cross with a single step and each department needs looking at.
Recruitment
There’s no doubt that in recent years, Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp in particular have got signings spot on. Alisson, Virgil van Djik and Mo Salah may be the headline buys, but others such as Sadio Mane and Gini Winaldum, players who were available at reasonable prices from mid-table Premier League sides, have been just as important.
By contrast, United spent £52m on Fred, £40m on Nemanja Matic and a combined £60m on Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly. The money has been spent pretty equally, but while Liverpool have sold players at their peak, such as Philippe Coutinho, and improvised those they have got in, United have sold them not got their money back on players like Romelu Lukaku and failed to get the best out of expensive recruits such as Paul Pogba.
Recent signings hint at a potential switch, with Minamino, Origi and Oxlade-Chamberlain all failing to nail down a place at Anfield. The jury is out on Diogo Jota, an expensive purchase at £45m from Wolves, while Thiago Alcantara is 29 years old so not one for the long term.
United spent well last year, with Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Bruno Fernandes all improving the first XI considerably, while squad players Odion Ighalo and Daniel James offer the Old Trafford outfit different options. One season of action won’t change 33 points difference, however.
Verdict: Liverpool
Goalkeepers
While United let Dean Henderson go out on loan and David De Gea rest on his considerable laurels, Alisson has been irreplaceable for the Merseysiders. With the return of Henderson to United, on a new and improved £120-a-week contract, United have two great options, while Liverpool are reliant on their brilliant Brazilian staying injury free. For that reason, it’s a little more balanced than it might seem on paper.
Verdict: Draw
The Defenders
Both sides have challenges to overcome in this area. While Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold look incredible in the attack, both of Liverpool’s full-backs look exposed at times while defending and in particular on the break. Virgil van Djik may be the best defender in the world but he has no reliable partner at the back, with Joel Matip and Joe Gomez both lacking in certain areas since lockdown. Liverpool in general look more open at the back recently and shipping five goals to Lincoln and Leeds will concern Klopp.
United, despite having the second-best Premier League record in terms of goals conceded last time out look shaky at the back too. Harry Maguire desperately requires a partner at centre-bac, while at left-back, Luke Shaw looks a shadow of the player he was when he signed from Southampton six years ago, incapable of finding basic passes on Saturday to maintain the momentum of attacks and cruelly exposed by the pace of players such as Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey.
Verdict: Liverpool
The Midfield
Liverpool go about their business quietly in general but were happy to shout from the rooftops when they signed Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich. The Champions League, German League and Cup winner from last season will bolster a midfield shorn of the services of Adam Lallana. With Alcantara, Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum all 29 or older, The Reds midfield can be overrun as it was to a massive extent at Anfield back in Spring when a below-par Atletico Madrid side were able to slice through them.
United’s midfield relies on dogged defensive duties blended with the creativity to open doors against defences that mass ranks in trying to thwart them. In Nemanja Matic, Fred and Paul Pogba, United had one of the most pedestrian midfields in the Premier League two years ago, but since the emergence of Scott McTominay and purchases of Donny van de Beek and Bruno Fernandes in particular, the Red Devils look a flexible and more importantly mobile unit able to change gears.
It’s a close one, but we go to Manchester for this one, purely for the number of options for tight matches.
Verdict: Manchester United
The Forward Line
Three great players, offering attacking options to dream of. Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino aren’t bad either. While United have three young guns firing consistently last season, in Mason Greenwood (18), Marcus Rashford (22) and Anthony Marital (24), Liverpool’s front line are all 28 years old. That does, of course, hint that the future might be United’s, but what of the present?
While Mane is the catalyst for a lot of clutch goals – the two at Stamford Bridge earlier this season as indication of this – and Salah is the master from the spot, Roberto Firmino hasn’t looked the peak striker he is in recent months. That’s likely to change as the season progresses, but what about in the seasons to come?
For United, Greenwood will be inconsistent this year but that’s his age. Rashford and Martial are in great form and scored 22 and 23 goals each last season respectively. While we go with the Merseysiders at present, this balance is shifting all the time, in favour of United. When Liverpool’s deadly trio turn 30, will they be the same force?
Verdict: Liverpool (just)
Overall, who’ll win the 21st league title between the sides? We wouldn’t like to call it, but Liverpool will be desperate to live up their favourites tag and win this year’s English Premier League to join their bitter rivals on 20 top-flight titles.
It should make the battle between these two great sides all the better to watch over the coming seasons.
