United's only hope is if Liverpool feel strain of title race kicking into gear

David Sneyd

HOW QUICKLY THE feeling around a football club can change.

Manchester United rocked up to Anfield to face Liverpool on 5 March last season with a swagger.

They left shattered.

The 7-0 defeat is etched in stony infamy given the margin of victory in the fixture between England’s two biggest clubs surpassed Liverpool’s 7-1 triumph from the old Second Division in 1895-96.

Nine months ago, United believed Erik ten Hag was beginning to get a grip at Old Trafford.

Gary Neville took to his Instagram page in buoyant form on his walk into Anfield.

United were 10 points clear of Liverpool in the Premier League and won their first trophy since 2017 a week before when Ten Hag’s side beat Newcastle 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

Neville was giddy and provided a glimpse behind-the-scenes before going live on Sky Sports.

“You’re talking a lot more than you normally talk, you are nervous,” fellow pundit Graeme Souness said over his shoulder.

“I’ve never been more relaxed coming here in the last nine years as a Manchester United fan,” Neville replied, his grin widening.

“Seriously?” Souness sighed. “Seriously?”

“Honestly. This bunch are tough. They’re tough,” Neville insisted. “[Lisandro] Martinez, Casemiro… Are we on air? We’re on air here. Enjoy the game,” he concluded, blowing a kiss to the camera.

Ninety minutes later United had blown up.

Neville, like every other United supporter, would be better served with a social media blackout around today’s meeting of the sides.

The club and the team may be withering in front of them but the match-going hardcore are not. The editorial of the fanzine ‘United We Stand’ explained this month how ‘demand for tickets at Old Trafford is an all-time high… Over 12,000 Reds are applying for every away game where the allocation is up to 3,000… When United played Galatasaray in 2012, 400 travelled. This time, it was a sell-out and people were asking for spares on the street. Imagine going to Istanbul and not getting in.”

It will be similar outside the Anfield Road End today.

The United section at Anfield will be full today – it might not be by the end depending on the leniency of the police and stewards should, as everyone bar Jurgen Klopp expects, United provide meek resistance and suffer another humiliation.

“I never like when the headlines about United are not great before we play because it’s like ‘OK, then it is the game where they can put everything right’,” Jurgen Klopp said this week.

“The 7-0 we knew that day it was a freak result that happens once in a lifetime. If it helps anyone for the next game it is the team who lost 7-0 and not the team who won 7-0.

“The more bad things people say about them,” the Liverpool boss continued. “The stronger they will show up. That is always the case.”

Not with this group of United players.

Klopp was falling back on one of football’s most well-worn cliches about teams delivering a reaction and playing with a purpose in the aftermath of disappointment.

But these United players remain in the midst of their own self-pity and 12 defeats in 24 games shows how weak they are.

“It’s a great place to go and you know it’s going to be tough, and I think what every top footballer wants is to have that challenge, so you have to look forward,” Ten Hag insisted.

“Last year of course we take that in our memory, but you have to also take the benefit from it, learn from it and [today] we can prove that.”

No one believes they can.

United manager Erik ten Hag. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

As well as injuries to Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro, Mason Mount and Christian Eriksen, not to mention fitness concerns over Luke Shaw who was withdrawn at half-time of their exit from European football in midweek, United are also without the suspended Bruno Fernandes.

Marcus Rashford’s return after illness is a positive in terms of being able to fill out the matchday squad list but, on current form and attitude, there is little else to be gained from his presence.

United don’t have enough prowess in attack – Rasmus Hojlund is not ready to lead a line at this level yet – to somehow be the first side this season to stop Liverpool winning at home in the Premier League.

And if a draw is the best case scenario even that is fanciful for a team with a goalkeeper who is susceptible to conceding from long-range shots, struggles to deal with set-pieces and is unsteady on his feet in a one-on-one scenario.

Liverpool will find a way to score and it won’t be difficult.

Ordinarily, a win in this fixture would add further weight to their credentials as title challengers given Klopp’s men went into the weekend top of the table.

Only feeling the pressure or strain of that greater significance could stop them from collecting three valuable points against a rival bereft of any belief.