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2 months ago
26 Manchester United and Liverpool will be undergoing their final preparations ahead of tomorrow’s high-stakes clash at Old Trafford between the two rivals.
Indeed, Erik ten Hag will be locking horns with his compatriot, Arne Slot, for the first time in a competitive fixture since the former Feyenoord boss took the reins at Anfield.
Slot has picked up two wins in his opening two fixtures in the dugout: 2-0 away to Ipswich Town on the opening weekend and 2-0 at home to Brentford last time out. Unsurprisingly, Mohamed Salah has found his feet by notching a goal in each of the outings, while the other two goals were provided by Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz.
Ahead of one of England’s most fiery derbies, we had a chat with The Empire of The Kop’s Deputy Editor Farrell Keeling to try and gauge how he was feeling before his beloved Scousers departed for Old Trafford.
Read more: Erik ten Hag has Manchester United conundrum after Scott McTominay exit – opinion
View from the enemy: United vs Liverpool edition
Two wins from two under Arne Slot. What have you made of the new manager’s introduction to life at Liverpool?
“Even if we took our pre-season exploits into account under Arne Slot, we’d still be left with an extremely shallow sample size. We also have to take into account the quality of the opposition faced so far in 2024/25 – with the greatest of respect to both Ipswich Town and Brentford, neither outfit will harbour any serious aspirations this season of a top six finish. That said, in the spirit of objectivity, it would be unfair to totally dismiss the evidence already on show. Liverpool exerted impressive amounts of control in their opening Premier League games but without trading off our trademark deadliness under Jurgen Klopp. You can still see much of the German tactician’s fingermarks over the two goals scored against Brentford (opponent’s corner, defended well, break and goal; and win possession in opponent’s half, counter quickly and goal). Statistically, we’re clearly doing something right under Slot given we’ve got the highest xG (5.3) and lowest xG conceded (0.8) in the Premier League after the opening two games, courtesy of FotMob.”
Slot hasn’t been backed in the transfer market by FSG in his first summer. Do you think that is part of the manager’s introduction, to slowly assess his squad, or whether it’s down to the ownership?
“I think it’s a bit of an easy line to say Slot hasn’t been backed by the owners. Firstly, we’ve brought in a potential long-term Alisson Becker successor in Giorgi Mamardashvili and a former £80m footballer in Federico Chiesa who we’ve long admired and has since found himself played out of position at Juventus. Albeit, we haven’t addressed a couple of key areas in the squad – centre-back and the holding six. Admittedly, Ryan Gravenberch has been doing a particularly stellar job so far but you have to imagine there was a reason Liverpool were so very keen to take Martin Zubimendi away from the wonders of San Sebastian’s mountain ranges. Centre-back is the big one for me – we’ve lost Joel Matip on a free and Sepp van den Berg’s been sold to Brentford. That leaves us with Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez as our senior options, and there are fears that the latter could be sold before the deadline today.
“To address the second part of your question, it’s absolutely spot on regarding the need for Slot to assess his squad. That was certainly made crystal clear to all in the fanbase patiently awaiting a first senior summer signing throughout the bulk of the window. The Dutchman was in an extremely difficult position coming in during a tournament summer and being forced to assess his options in a piecemeal fashion. How can you really judge what you need when you’re still waiting on key men returning in August? Then there’s the other factor of the overall quality of the squad to consider. Don’t forget this Liverpool group is significantly stronger than the squad Jurgen Klopp inherited from Brendan Rodgers in 2015. The simple fact of the matter – hard as it may be for some of us to accept – is that standards are now so high that it’s difficult to find players who reach the bar or have the level of technical brilliance Arne Slot expects.”
Biggest concern when it comes to your squad this season?
“Do we have enough depth? That’s the big one for me. We’ll all cope without a new defensive midfield signing, but if we get past the summer window deadline without a new centre-back, it feels like we’re taking a bit of a risk in a season with an expanded schedule (courtesy of the new Champions League format).”
How do you feel about Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford?
“I’ve got some friends who are United fans who seem a little nervous! To tell you the truth though, I’m not expecting a rout at Old Trafford. This will be a huge test for Arne Slot’s men – considerably more so than Brentford and Ipswich Town. As we all know, it doesn’t necessarily matter who has the better squad on the day, especially when you get intangibles like stadium atmosphere involved.”
Why is this the biggest rivalry in English football?
“It’s the one everyone actually cares about the most! I don’t mean that as a dig at the likes of the North London derby and such, it’s more aimed at some who have steered Manchester City into the conversation in recent years. Yes, they’ve been an absolutely formidable outfit under Pep Guardiola’s guidance – frighteningly so! But you can’t just manufacture or imitate a rivalry of the scale of Liverpool and Manchester United with roots that are decades deep. I don’t want to go all football purist on everyone, but you have to earn that level of prestige. Liverpool and Manchester United have. We’re the two biggest clubs in England with a ludicrous hoard of silverware (both European and domestic) and there are still no question marks or asterisks over our heads in terms of how we got here.”
What do you think of Manchester United a) the club; b) the team; c) the manager; d) the fans?
A) “Manchester United, barring commercial acitivity, are obviously still not the force they once were but the name carries significant weight. You’ve got some great players in the side. Bruno Fernandes is obviously sensationally creative, you succeeded in signing a young, generational talent in Leny Yoro (and beat Real Madrid to him), Kobbie Mainoo has that special spark, and I know Bayern fans were sad to see Matthijs de Ligt leave. There is serious quality there, but, as ever, it’s all going to boil down to how the manager uses it.”
B) “I still don’t know quite what to make of Erik ten Hag. What I do feel, however, is that this is his make-or-break season. If he fails to deliver a clear improvement and a clear identity this season, I suspect he’ll be sacked.”
C) “Both Manchester United and Liverpool fans care deeply about their respective clubs and are extremely passionate in their support. At your best, you can make Old Trafford a place no one wants to visit. Obviously, that’ll come on its own with consistently positive results, but no one should be dismissing the power of the home crowd ahead of our meeting on Sunday – you’ll all have a big part to play in this.”
All-time Liverpool hero and why?
“It remains, and quite probably always will, Steven Gerrard. I’m telling you right now – rival fans (with the exception of United supporters) are lying if they’ve been out for a kickabout, Sunday League, what have you, and haven’t once thwacked a ball at goal from 30 yards whilst screaming “GERRARRRRRRRRRD!” (even if it’s just in your head). Gerrard had absolutely everything you could ever want in a central midfielder: goals, assists, pure power, an eye for a pass, technical brilliance in abundance, and the will to win. It’s a testament to his individual brilliance that he kept Liverpool relevant for a significant period of time characterised by poor squads and management, even despite offers to go elsewhere and win more silverware.”
Scoreline prediction for Sunday?
“I don’t think we’ll lose but I just don’t have it in me to say we come away from this with a comfortable win. It’ll be really close, but just to avoid getting splinters on the fence, I’ll go with a 2-1 win to Liverpool.”
