Old foes do battle once more as Man Utd take on Liverpool at Old Trafford in game week 3 of the Premier League.
Two clubs in contrasting positions but all is cast aside in English football's biggest fixture.
Arne Slot takes his Liverpool side to Manchester for the first time as he faces a familiar foe himself in fellow Dutchman Erik ten Hag as the two used to face off in the Eredivisie as managers of Feyenoord and Ajax.
Speaking of ten Hag, this is a match reminiscent of his first season as MUFC faced the Merseysiders in game 3 at the Theatre of Dreams.
And similarly to that game, this one is very important as well as it is crunch time for United's boss, even this early on in the season.
What will happen next in this great rivalry?
Predicted Lineup
The only change I see Erik ten Hag making is Joshua Zirkzee in for Mason Mount after the midfielder picked up his first (and 34th overall for MUFC) injury of the campaign.
The number 7 was doing quite a good job as a false 9 but alas, a hamstring injury leaves him sidelined for the next four to five weeks.
There is the option of him starting all three of Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford and Amad with the number 10 playing as the false 9 and the other two out wide. This would mean another bench start for new striker Zirkzee who would then probably question why he moved to Manchester instead of Milan. And who could blame him?
What about Matthijs De Ligt coming in at centre-back?
I would bring him in for Harry Maguire. I would've brought him in for Maguire in game 1. The fact that we've only seen Noussair Mazraoui start out of all our new signings is criminal in my opinion.
I just see the manager sticking with a similar team simply because if he hasn't changed it by now, I don't see him changing it for Liverpool.
United's Approach
We are at home. In front of the Old Trafford faithful, that 75 000 strong will want to see some front-foot, attacking football with a high line, high press, chances being created and none of this deep line, defend and counter crap!
I believe we're going to play defend and counter crap.
Even more so if we select that predicted lineup.
We haven't played front-foot football since...
Can't actually remember, at least not on a consistent basis. We are more of a counter attacking team and we prefer to sit deeper.
Without Mason Mount, who has been influential in that high press, I doubt we will see the same quality in terms of said press in his absence. I don't even know if Zirkzee is as good a presser as Mount and if it is to be Rashford as striker, we can forget about a high press altogether.
Mount would've been perfect for this game as LFC do like to build from defence. It would've given us a better chance of getting the ball off them high up the field. That is out of the question now thanks to his injury.
Even a high line will not be plausible if Harry Maguire starts because he is too slow. I know that none of our centre-backs are rapid especially if they come up against Mo Salah and Luis Diaz but I would feel a lot more comfortable should we start Lisandro Martinez and De Ligt. Both have better reading of the game, positional sense, anticipation and are quicker at covering the ground.
The midfield is also an area to be concerned about as compared to Liverpool, ours doesn't seem to have the energy nor the options. Mason Mount is injured, Christian Eriksen hasn't played a minute this season, Scott McTominay is gone, Toby Collyer is a youngster and hasn't played either, Manuel Ugarte isn't registered, and that leaves just Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes.
Three. Our entire midfield roster is just three players. If they don't perform or get injured, it could be a long bloody game.
We don't create many chances so when we do have opportunities, we have to take them which is also something we've failed at for the past year. The thing that also allowed us to create whatever chances was the high press which as I said, without Mount, isn't as good.
I've just talked myself into believing we are going to struggle and that LFC have a very good chance of winning.
Well done Yuveer. Well done 👏.
Liverpool
Much like most teams and ones with new managers, it is very difficult to properly understand where they are at.
But like new appointments, LFC have started life under Arne Slot in a pretty solid manner. Liverpool grabbed back-to-back 2-0 wins in their opening two matches over Ipswich and Brentford.
Neither was plain sailing but there were elements to their game that were quite impressive.
LFC's efficiency up front, their brilliance on the counter and an extraordinary ability to keep possession are all aspects of their game that seemed to have improved under Slot, not that they were bad at those things under Jurgen Klopp, but still, impressive all the same.
Speaking of which, in their last match, Slot's Liverpool broke an Anfield record in terms of their pass accuracy.
LFC completed 551 out of their 602 passes giving them a 92% pass accuracy. That was the side's best-ever pass accuracy in a game at Anfield in the league since 2003/04 when Opta first started recording stats.
That is pretty incredible.
And a little worrying.
We can struggle at times when teams keep the ball and move it around as our concentration can easily drop. When team's dominate, it can cause opposition's to become bored and start watching the game. I fear this could happen to us as we have a sort of ADHD when it comes to focus in football.
Liverpool also have a lot of quality and while they only made the one transfer in Federico Chiesa, they still boast a host of top players.
Mo Salah for one. He has been a problem for United for many years. He scored in both Old Trafford games last season (Premier League and FA Cup) and has a record of 14 goals and 4 assists in 15 matches. This means we are his favorite opponent to face. He will be licking his lips at the prospect of adding to that talley especially as he'll come up against Diogo Dalot at left-back.
😐.
Diogo Jota is another player who likes scoring against United as he has netted 4 times in 9 games for Liverpool and Wolves over the years. He's also gotten 2 assists. He is the preferred striking option for Slot over Darwin Nunez so we have to be careful with him.
Recent Meetings
As we know, over the past few years, it's been one-sided. Liverpool-sided.
The team from Merseyside have absolutely dominated this fixture over the past few years with thumping wins like 4-0, 5-0 and of course, the infamous 7-0 at Anfield two seasons ago.
But in the last three meetings in all comps, it's actually United who've had the better record. Two draws in the league last season was accompanied by our famous 4-3 win in the FA Cup.
😁.
In fact, other than that 7-0 thrashing, Erik ten Hag's record against LFC is:
Games - 5
Defeats - 1
Draws - 2
Wins - 2
He's won more than he's lost against the enemy.
Keep that record going boss.
Prediction
And it's because of this recent history that I'm feeling quietly confident that we could get something from this game. I know it's odd to be saying that when playing at home, but that's the predicament we find ourselves in.
2-2 is what I'm going for, same as last season.
We're not in the best of spaces on the pitch but these big games are great levelers. I thought we'd get demolished last year but we didn't. If anything we probably should've won both league meetings.
Anything is possible.
Score predictions?
Background Image (player): Lisandro Martinez | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)