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English Premier League Preview: Liverpool v Manchester United [Fri Sep 16th, 2005]
The first East Lancashire derby of the season sees both teams just getting into their stride. Liverpool are still not managing to take their European form into the Premiership, while Man U dropped their first points of the season last week against Man City.
This will be the first test for both teams this season of the fairly regular hangover effect in a Premiership game directly following a UEFA Champions League fixture.
BACKGROUND
Liverpool had a strange first season under Benitez as he sought to change the team and their style of play to his way of thinking. A number of shabby performances, particularly away from home, resulted in a less than satisfactory Premiership finish some thirty points behind Chelsea.
All that was forgotten though with Liverpool’s gritty defeat of Chelsea in the final stages of the Champions League and then that unforgettable comeback against AC Milan in May. Those results bought Benitez some more time to continue his transformation of Liverpool but fans were disappointed that some of the European millions were not used to acquire bigger names than a Spanish goalkeeper and a tall centre-forward.
Several of the Champions League heroes had been quietly moved on, most notably Milan Baros, and the overwhelming priority for Benitez is to produce a team which will challenge seriously for the Premiership.
For many United fans this is the game of the season, an absolute must woin, or at least don’t lose. Last season the results went United’s way with an unconvincing double over Liverpool, memorable only for Rooney’s winning goal at Anfield in United’s 1-0 win.
United have started the season well with three wins and a draw although the goals for column is already starting to worry fans. Five goals scored in four games isn’t wonderful against opposition who, with all due respect, can’t be counted at the top level of English football.
The one consolation is that the defence have been extremely mean with Joey Barton’s reflex shot in last week’s derby producing the first goal conceded in the Premiership by United this season. The increasingly impressive Edwin Van der Saar is the main reason for that frugality and, though a Liverpool onslaught can be expected, Van der Saar and his defenders don’t look likely to concede many goals.
However, this is a post-Champions League game and tiredness and particularly injuries are likely to have a significant impact on the lineups.United will certainly be without Gabriel Heinze who suffered knee ligament damage in the Villarreal game while Liverpool were careful to rest key players to keep them fresh for the United game.
This is one of those situations where the tension, the mutual antipathy, and the hostility on the terraces cancel out any chance of a classic game. Fans think back fondly to a fabulous 3-3 draw several years ago when people like Denis Irwin and Razor Ruddock were still playing.
Such games are incredibly rare and Sunday’s match is unlikely to climb to those heights, not least because there are few players on either side who understand how the fans feel about the opposition. Liverpool are an increasingly cosmopolitan team, with only Steven Gerrard and the reliable Jamie Carragher in tune with Liverpool fans’ hostility to United.
For their part, the Manchester team have lost the local spine which brought them such riches in the nineties. Of that golden crop Beckham, Butt and Phil Neville have left the club. Only Scholes and Gary Neville remain and injury will keep Neville out of this game, where he is invariably a talisman for both sets of fans.
CURRENT FORM:
Liverpool (Premiership only, oldest result first): DWD
The 2-1 win in Spain in midweek showed, yet again, how Liverpool are coming to terms with the particular demands of European football but the frenzy of Premiership encounters sometimes seems to take them by surprise. Three distinctly average Premiership results and performances and just one goal scored – it’s not what the fans expect or demand of European champions.
Man.Utd (Premiership only,) : WWWD
Last week’s Manchester derby saw United come away with a single point and, but for a great Van der Saar save from Andy Cole, they could have ended up pointless. The performance in Europe in midweek wasn’t brilliant time and fans will be hoping for more fluency and threat from the Reds at Anfield.
TEAM NEWS
Liverpool: The team continue to be without Morientes after his recent injury but the Champions League fixture on Tuesday produced nothing more than bumps and strains. Liverpool should be able to field a virtually full strength team.
Man Utd: The knee injury to Gabriel Heinze will force him to miss this fixture putting him alongside Gary Neville, Louis Saha, Quinton Fortune and the much-missed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as long term casualties. Christiano Ronaldo will return to Premiership action after the death of his father and most eyes will be on Wayne Rooney and the way he behaves. Also the injuries to Keane and Heinze adding to the long-term injuries are starting to make the squad look threadbare already.
WATCH OUT FOR:
Liverpool - John Arne Riise: A powerful, raiding left back with a fearsome shot, he is definitely a player that United fear. Strong tackling and surprisingly quick when advancing down the left flank he is the ideal modern full back. And he can take a devastating free kick with his left foot.
Man Utd: This is the kind of fixture that made Paul Scholes’ reputation and the competition with the young pretender, Steven Gerrard, might help Scholes give one of those displays that help roll back the years. The atmosphere will be frenzied and his ball control and distribution in front of the back four might help him produce the kind of performance reminding fans on both sides of how great he truly once was.
PROBABLE STARTING XIs:
Liverpool: Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Zenden, Gerrard, Alonso, Riise, Cisse, Crouch
Man.Utd: Van der Saar, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Richardson, Fletcher, Scholes, Park, Ronaldo, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy
Alan Lawson
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