The last time Man United were at Anfield, Liverpool scented blood. This time, United are the sharks looking for their kill.
Ten Hag managed United for the first time against Liverpool in Bangkok in July
The last time Manchester United were at Anfield in April, it was a question of how many. How many goals would Liverpool win by? The answer was four.
The question now posed of United is how many trophies could they win. As remote as the chances of a clean sweep are, the answer is the same: four.
It is 319 days since Liverpool walloped United 4-0. That night, Ralf Rangnick opined United may require 10 new signings. Two days later, he likened the squad reconstruction to open-heart surgery. Not that you would have found a heart in last season’s squad.
Erik ten Hag has only signed one player fewer than the 10 Rangnick recommended, albeit four have been on loan and Martin Dubravka’s peculiar spell ended prematurely on New Year’s Day.
Ten Hag and Rangnick did not sing from the same hymnsheet on recruitment, so Rangnick’s consultancy contract was shredded before it became active, only six days into Ten Hag’s official tenure.
All United fans miss from Rangnick are his press conferences that were as incisive as a surgeon’s scalpel. There were gegenpress conferences but not much pressing from the players. Ten Hag has elicited pressing from a 30-year-old Dutch Chris Wood.
Few players highlight Ten Hag’s coaching clout more than Wout Weghorst. Weghorst has not fulfilled the role he was bought for and he has one goal in 13 starts, a dire record comparable with Garry Birtles and Diego Forlan.
So Ten Hag has played on the positives of Weghorst’s interplay and instructed him to drop deep, allowing faster forwards to run ahead of him. It procured Marcus Rashford’s contest-killing goal in the League Cup final.
Ten Hag credited Weghorst with a role in all three of United’s goals against West Ham. “I think he was one of the best players on the pitch. I think he was involved to see the corner, maybe he was in front when he came up together with Harry (Maguire) to force the own goal from the opponent.
“I think the goal from Garnacho he was pressing in switch of play and definitely in the third goal he gave a good press and forced the opponent to make a mistake where Fred scored.
Ten Hag signed Weghorst in January
“He understands positioning in and out of possession and he is doing a really good job for the team.”
The United matchgoers who are escorted into the Anfield Road End are completely trusting of Ten Hag and that is why the presence of a one-goal on-loan Burnley striker in their XI is not cause for dread. Weghorst is a physical match for Virgil van Dijk and his selfless running opens up space for teammates to thrive.
It should be a prerequisite for any United player but Weghorst is patently in his element to be playing for the club. Character is as vital as quality in recruitment and Ten Hag has ensured every United incoming is invested in representing the club after years of the dressing room kowtowing to prima donnas eyeing an exit.
Paul Pogba’s last appearance was at Anfield, where he lasted 10 minutes and was abused by Mancunians three days after a militant contingent repeatedly urged him to “f–k off” during the fraught win over Norwich at Old Trafford. For some fans, the sole positive of United’s 4-0 hiding was Pogba never pulled on a United shirt again.
Pogba lasted just 10 minutes at Anfield
You could smell the fear in the United side that evening on Merseyside. Liverpool scented blood. Rangnick switched to a back three and United were breached inside five minutes. Ten Hag has not altered United’s sacrosanct 4-2-3-1 formation for any opponent.
Phil Jones started his second game in three years at Anfield last April. Now he is an impromptu pundit who refers to United as “they” and was absent from the celebratory shots at Wembley. Jones lasted 45 minutes at Anfield and has played 26 minutes since.
There has been a 44-point swing between Liverpool and United from last season when Jurgen Klopp’s team finished a whopping 34 points clear of United, rivals only historically. Liverpool were formidable and borderline unbeatable.
You only had to observe the buoyant away end at Selhurst Park on the final day of last season to appreciate the dread Liverpool instill in United supporters. They started cheering upon news City had recovered from 2-0 down to go 3-2 up against Aston Villa, a result that safeguarded the Treble amid the threat of a Liverpool quadruple.
United fans usher in the Ten Hag era at Selhurst Park in May
“You Scouse b——s,” the United away-dayers chanted repeatedly, before breaking into a chorus of ’20 times, Man United’. On a day United and City sported worker bees on their kits on the fifth anniversary of the Manchester Arena attack, Manchester was united.
Ten Hag’s tenure began against Liverpool in Bangkok, a 4-0 pre-season friendly win where Klopp fielded three different outfield Xs. United collected the Bangkok Cup to add to their hand luggage but the result was so inconsequential Ten Hag eschewed a post-match press conference. The one that mattered came 41 days later.
United’s uplifting victory over Liverpool in August – their first against them in the league in four-and-a-half years – was more pivotal than the premature timing suggested. United channelled the mutiny of the protesting supporters and the negativity of the generational nadir at Brentford nine days earlier to overwhelm Liverpool in a blistering first 20 minutes.
Jadon Sancho celebrates putting United 1-0 up against Liverpool
Liverpool had drawn their first two matches and weren’t quite themselves. For months, everyone has waited for Liverpool to get back to their old selves. They eviscerated Bournemouth 9-0 five days after the United loss, beat City in October and won at Tottenham.
Yet last season was the end of the road for Klopp’s great side. Rangnick claimed Liverpool had “25 Formula One racing cars” in their squad but some engines are running on empty.
United are winless at Anfield since January 2016 and they have only scored once in their last seven there. “That is the next step we have to make then,” Ten Hag said on Thursday.
It is United’s longest wait without victory on the red side of Stanley Park since the 1970s, when their only triumph was a ‘home’ game against Arsenal in August 1971. United were banned from playing at Old Trafford for two games after hooligans had thrown knives into the away end during a game the previous season.
Liverpool stride out onto the Bernabeu pitch on Wednesday 5-2 down on aggregate. If Real Madrid see off Liverpool again then Klopp’s trophy chances are nil. United may still be in the running for four.
This time, it is a different 4-0.
source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk
