Derby features Liverpool, Man U

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This article was published 14/12/2018 (2813 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Both Liverpool and Manchester United have led the Premier League this season. United, don’t forget, were top for less than 24 hours after beating Leicester City on the opening day, and even though they didn’t play particularly well at Old Trafford they wouldn’t have anticipated the next weekend’s loss at Brighton and a paltry six victories from their following 15 outings.

Even if they maybe should have. More on that in a minute.

Liverpool, meanwhile, came into the current round of matches at the Premier League summit having stomped Bournemouth 4-0 the last time out. Yet to lose in the English top flight, it has dropped only six of a possible 48 points and has pulled away with Manchester City for what will surely be a two-horse race to the title.

The Reds will retain first place for at least another week if they can beat United in Sunday’s North West Derby at Anfield (10 a.m., TSN 3 & 5). Incredibly, they haven’t won at home to the Red Devils since 2013, but they have every reason — five, in fact — to look forward to a turning of the time both in this fixture and the rivalry, generally, at least in the near term.

1. Investment: Liverpool spent more than US$211.5 million during the summer transfer period, nearly US$100.7 million the summer before that and US$88 million the January in between. It also spent that money on areas targeted for improvement.

Defender Virgil van Dijk — that January signing — helped turn the Reds’ defence into the Premier League’s best. Goalkeeper Alisson addressed an obvious need. Then there is Mohamed Salah, who scored 44 goals in all competitions last season and was named Footballer of the Year by both the Professional Footballers’ Association and Football Writers’ Association.

Manchester United, for their part, acquired midfielder Fred for US$65.4 million in June, but have yet to really work him into the squad. Paul Pogba, the club’s record signing, continues to feud with manager Jose Mourinho, and big-money striker Romelu Lukaku has been ineffective in and out of the XI this campaign.

Where Liverpool has identified specific players for specific requirements, United has paid sizeable fees seemingly at random, without a clear objective in mind.

2. Stability: the benefit of Liverpool’s intentional acquisitions has been stability on the pitch. Injuries notwithstanding, manager Jurgen Klopp knows the basic make-up of his team from week to week. From goalkeeper out, he has a reliable core and can make meaningful substitutions.

He and everyone else knows that Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane will front the attack more often than not. The fullbacks are the same whenever healthy (right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold is an injury doubt for Sunday’s encounter), and while the midfield occasionally interchanges, it nevertheless accomplishes the same things, no matter who’s in it.

United’s starting lineup is a crapshoot. Pogba is on the bench whenever Mourinho is upset with him — which he is currently — and a single mistake is grounds for a month’s banishment from the squad. Just ask Fred, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof, Anthony Martial… the list goes on. No wonder United are dreadful to watch. They play with fear.

3. Management: Klopp has a knack for getting big performances out of his best players. Now, electrifying talents such as Salah and Mane won’t require much coaching, but they might need to be coddled from time to time and, most importantly, put into positions to succeed.

When Liverpool sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona during the middle of last season, it was savvy enough to invest the proceeds into van Dijk, but it also used the opportunity to allow Mane to thrive and to better balance the team in the centre of the park. Opponents know that when they face the Reds, they’ll be coming up against an organized, enthusiastic group of players that presses aggressively and moves the ball quickly.

Mourinho, conversely, doesn’t have a positive relationship with any of his players. He doesn’t celebrate with them when they’ve done something well, and he’s quick to criticize them publicly when things have been difficult — which has been often. Organizationally, players deployed out of position — such as the mystifying use of Scott McTominay on defence, as well the ongoing problems at fullback — and an overall lack of confidence means United are slow, inexpressive and vulnerable when attacked with speed.

Any tactical negativity is a reflection of the manager’s assumption that his players will make mistakes, and they play into that assumption.

4. Spirit: earlier this month, Klopp ran onto the pitch at Goodison Park to celebrate Divock Origi’s late winner against Everton. It wasn’t a smart move — in fact it broke the rules — but it did underline the passion with which Liverpool plays.

This is a team that is clearly enjoying its football, thriving in the positive atmosphere its manager has instilled. The players believe they can achieve something this season, that their manager and his superiors have put the pieces in place to help them succeed as individuals and as a group. The Reds are a pleasure to watch because they take pleasure in what they’re doing.

Their Sunday adversaries are a miserable lot. Mourinho, still living temporarily in Manchester, grumps his way from his hotel to Old Trafford and up and down the country, punishing his players instead of inspiring them. It shows. United are hesitant to the point of tedium, not encouraged to try anything new, floundering in a world of gloom.

5. Execution: with all that said, the players who take the pitch on any given match day are answerable, at least to themselves, to execute whatever game plan there might be and to take pride in their performances, no matter the circumstances. Granted, this is far easier to do when the team is winning — when investment, stability, management and spirit have combined to produce an atmosphere of purpose.

So, it’s hardly surprising that Salah is tied for first in Premier League goal scoring this season, or that Georginio Wijnaldum is passing at 92 per cent or that van Dijk is averaging 1.2 interceptions and 5.6 clearances per match. The Liverpool players deliver game in, game out, which is why they remain unbeaten.

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Then there is Pogba, who, unhappy or not, has completed just 82.8 per cent of his passes this term and often appears disinterested. Lukaku, with only six goals in all competitions, has been well off the pace in most matches and hilariously tripped over the ball at Southampton earlier this month.

Alexis Sanchez didn’t do much of anything before being sidelined with a hamstring injury, and Nemanja Matic has been a shadow of the player he was so recently at Chelsea.

Put it all together, and you have a North West Derby that Liverpool enters as overwhelming favourite, a 16-point gap between first and sixth in the Premier League and a future that looks far brighter at Anfield than it does at Old Trafford.

jerradpeters@gmail.comTwitter: @JeradPeters