Northwest derby sure to be a Dutch treat

Opinion

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This article was published 30/08/2024 (373 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Sunday’s Northwest Derby were to be played as a game of Dutch Blitz, the advantage would have to lie with Liverpool.

Speed is key to winning the contest of cards, as is a clear head for quick decision-making and agility in moving the hand you’ve been dealt from one pile to the next. When it all gets a bit nuts, a touch of good humour doesn’t hurt, either.

It’s a game in which sleek prevails over clunky, where lightness of mind beats doubt and deliberation every time.

Put another way, if you can acquire and register Federico Chiesa in 12 hours or less — and for only £10 million – you are already beating an opponent who needs about a week to land Manuel Ugarte for four times that sum.

Chiesa won’t start against Manchester United this weekend (Sunday, 10 a.m., FuboTV), but he’ll at least be available to Liverpool manager Arne Slot. Ugarte, albeit a very different player in a very different situation, won’t have his paperwork ready in time for United boss Erik ten Hag to include him in the squad.

He might not have featured anyway, what with ten Hag’s reluctance to throw new signings straight into his XI. Or to withdraw veteran players who’ve consistently underperformed.

Under no circumstances should Marcus Rashford be in the Red Devils’ starting line-up, for example, though he probably will be. Nor, for that matter, should reliably liable goalkeeper Andre Onana. In the unlikely event Alejandro Garnacho sensibly comes in for Rashford, it’ll no doubt have been the result of a thought process almost as agonizing as getting Ugarte over the line.

Clunk, grind, stutter, stall… United are that rusting engine that’s gone without an oil change since 2013, a baffled pair of eyes on the Dutch Blitz rules sheet.

Liverpool, by comparison, will deploy the same set of players that dealt Brentford a 2-0 defeat the last time out, which itself was only one starter different from the team that beat Ipswich Town 2-0 the time before that. Settled, slim and drama-free, they have a clarity as to what’s expected and the dexterity to execute it.

Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai bring a bit of everything to a versatile Reds midfield, and wide attackers Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah can stretch a pitch beyond what United are comfortable using.

You can already see the plodding Casemiro chasing shadows at Old Trafford while Bruno Fernandes tries to coax a performance from confused colleagues before being inexplicably substituted in the second half — as he was in last weekend’s 2-1 loss at Brighton when the score was still 1-1.

Incidentally, this Manchester United-Liverpool showdown will feature no fewer than nine Netherlandish players and coaches, and ten if Matthijs de Ligt comes in for Harry Maguire. A further three are of other nationalities but have played for Dutch clubs previously.

Both managers are Dutchmen, and while it was ten Hag who enjoyed the greater accolades back home it’s Slot who looks to have made the smoother transition to English football. Though, given he only recently took the Anfield job, that’s down to more than just him.

Analyze, move, adjust, pile…”BLITZ!” for Liverpool.

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