IT’S been over a year now since I wrote an article stating my belief that Liverpool’s squad was as strong as Manchester United’s, based solely ‘man-for-man’, of course. As a team unit, they were still quite a way apart last season but I believe that we had players of equal – or better – quality, they just weren’t coming together as well.
But, then again, Ferguson’s great ability has always been getting team performances out of 11 average players.
A few weeks back, during the Liverpool v Man Utd game, I noticed a lot of comments from their fans along the lines ‘how are we being outplayed by a poor team?’, etc. and it got me thinking again: are Manchester United really so much better than us? I mean, sure, they still have that uncanny ability to pull wins out of…well, seemingly nothing but that’s all to do with Ferguson’s pact with the Devil.
When you get down to the finer details, you’ll see a group of very average players, ably assisted by one or two great. I’ve discussed this many times since the season started, with friends and family, and we all agree: Man Utd will struggle to keep up this year, perhaps even having to settle for a place in the Europa next season!
Already, they are 4 points behind a very consistently strong-looking Chelsea side, and I believe that City, Arsenal and Spurs are all much stronger this year and if they slip behind before Christmas, I can’t see them catching up. Sure, they’re in second now, but have they actually faced anybody decent besides ourselves and Tottenham yet? No, and they lost to Everton and Southampton also ran them pretty close.
So when I look over their squad and see players like Smalling, Jones, De Gea, Kagawa, Nani, Anderson and Young (all expensive and yet to convince) and stalwarts that are clearly past it like Scholes, Ferdinand and Giggs, I smile to think of the much smaller fees we paid for much higher quality players such as Skrtel, Agger, Reina, Allen, Sterling, Lucas and Shelvey, and the experienced veterans that we can still call upon such as Carragher and Gerrard.
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As always, there is still the same element of respect and fear surrounding the club and that is something which, over the past 25 years, Ferguson has cultivated to perfection. Clubs still relinquish points and wins to Man Utd purely out of fear; they believe the game is lost before they even turn up and this psychological element probably gives them as many points per season as the somewhat dodgy refereeing decisions we all complain about with regularity provides them with. We saw this against Howard Webb and Manchester United on Sunday evening, but many teams will overcome the 12-men of Manchester Utd this season, of that I’m sure.
The result against Tottenham last week showed me something I saw – even against 10 men – when they were at Anfield a few weeks ago: huge vulnerabilities all over the park. We just didn’t have the capabilities to take advantage of them, but I believe many others (ourselves included) will, as the season progresses.
It may sound a bit rich to say this, particularly given our current league position (and our inability to win at home!), but I really don’t see anything about Man Utd, at present, that we should be concerned about. They’re above us in the league, of course, but it’s very early days and 9 points can be made up easily at this point.
As always, this is just conjecture and only my opinion, but at present there are only two things I am envious of Utd for: Van Persie and their current league position. In terms of our squads, ours is the better equipped – for both this season, but particularly future ones – and once we hit form, we should chase them down pretty quickly.
I’m almost certain that some will disagree, and everybody is entitled to their own opinions, but if we can pick up a solid, 15-20 goal-per-season striker in January and continue going from strength-to-strength prior to that, we are superbly equipped to have a better season, and maybe even aid Ferguson into early retirement in the process.
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Yes!
Rubbish
Spoken like a true liverpool fan. First and foremost, you don’t have a proven goal scorer and we have several, including the two fellas that finished first and 2nd last year, Rooney and RVP. Suarez is a fantastic player, but he isn’t a goal scorer.Yes the jury is still out on DeGea and Lindegard but if you’re honest, you will have to agree that Reina is looking like he has passed the sell by date.I don’t think you will see Ferguson move away from the diamond in the middle of the park ( what took him so long to move in this direction) and as such United are likely to dominate teams like they did against Spurs in the 2nd half (after moving to 3 in the middle of the park)and the total destruction of Newcastle last week. Make no mistake, if United play in this formation with the likes of Carrick, Cleverly, Rooney, Kagawa, Scholes supported by RVP, Valencia and Wellbeck up front with Hernandez in reseve, than United will win the EPL or be in the top 2. I’m not worried about Chelsea it’s Man City that keeps us up at night. Playing with three in the middle of the park also has the added effect of eliminating an easy path down the middle as was seen in the 2nd half vs Spurs and the entire game vs Newcastle. With the support in the middle of the park Rio and Evans don’t have to contend with players running 60 yards un tracked or challenged. Smalling will be back soon and you may not rate him, but we do, highly. Jones will be the English captain at some point in his career and Vidic is yet to come back–enough said. Rafael is turining into the best RB in the EPL–Yes he is!!! And while Evra is inconsistent there are very few better in the EPL.
Nuf said Glory Glory Man United
As a LFC fan, their team is not that great but they have a great manager who have the ability to make their team play above their level consistently.
However for us, since the departure of Rafa, we have rubbish managers including the present one. Simple but true.
Man u are long ball dross, they’d be in the bottom half of the Prem if it wasn’t for ‘their’ referees, tackle hard and attack them and they fall to pieces.
Hs ha ha ha!!
A liverpool fan calling utd long ball merchants.
Shall we erase the last 30 odd years from your history cos brendans got u passing for 6 games?!
ahahahahah !! Loved the comment Mate!
Clearly you haven’t watched them lately. Liverpool the once great–now no more .
I’m guessing you’re quite young, or that you don’t have vivid memories of remembering to never write off United. You should never write up articles like this because they’ll always come back to bite you in the ass. That’s the Man United way!
Yes, on paper they may look ordinary and have done for a good 2 or 3 years now, but the fact is they keep on churning out results and with RVP added to their line-up they will ultimately be even stronger. I also think Kagawa will impress when he settles. That said they got lucky at Anfield (an LFC performance I was very happy with, what with the sending off) and have not looked particularly good at all this season, bar the first half vs Newcastle.
But they’re Man Utd. Teams will drop off and let them dictate games out of respect to that Scottish senile manager of theirs. They get the benefit of referees decisions and they often punish teams’ mistakes. In short: they win games. Let’s hope they don’t win enough to win anything but to say they’ll drop right away from the top four is optimistic. I would love to be proven wrong though! 🙂
Are you a liverpool fan? Coz if you are, you are the first one who doesn’t seem to be deluded. Kudos!
Great read.
While a decently written article it’s not exactly a reasonable look at the squads. If you went position for position and took of the Liverpool specs you’d see there’s a reason Utd have finished above Liverpool every year for an awfully long time and will again this year. You knock De Gea but don’t mentioned the poor and erratic form of Reina. You compare Jones and Smalling (saying they’re yet to convince) and then say Allen, Sterling & Shelvey have which is a bit rich as they’ve done nothing but have a few good games (and many not very good ones). You fail to mention Rooney, Valencia, Vidic. This is prettty blinkered stuff and in all honesty is the reason Liverpool fans continue to be more disliked than their results merit. I think you should worry about getting your own house in order rather than worry about Utd. Also a bit unfair to say we’re already 4 points behind but then say 9 points for you will be easy. I doubt you’ll publish this as Liverpool fansites are notrious for only alowing the screaming iditots form other clubs on to make yourselves feel better!
That’s exactly the kind of comment these idiotic articles need. Thank you for that.
true true ,this read is delusional idiotic and far far away from reality
Hahahahaha cheers mate! I needed cheering up…..that article was a joke right? You finished 34 points behind Utd last season and are already 9 points behind this season! You have yet to win a home game 2 months into the season,you’ve only scored a paltry 9 goals in 6 games an 5 of those came against Norwich! You then try and argue you’ve spent well in the transfer market and Utd haven’t!? You spent 75 million on Carroll, Henderson and Downing haha did you forget about them!? I’ll make a suggestion…don’t worry about what Utd are doing! Concentrate on your direct rivals such as Villa, Sunderland and Stoke!! Keep up the writing though mate, I need something to line the litter tray with!!
What a croc off s-it,u are comparing looserfool with united,u could write for the beano,we usually always start slow.I will give u a better prediction & have a few quid on it loosefool will not win a prem in the next 20 years,thats right never won yet…ALWAYS IN OUR SHADOW
The only difference between Manu & the rest of us is their strong “mongrel mentality” which allows them to dominate others. To them losing is not an option – they fight to the death for the 3 points. LFC needs to toughen up mentally & concentrate for 90 minutes then we can compete with anyone.
based on league position, liverpool are far ebhind, jesus why so bother where united league position is, you are just running scared of us getting our 20th title, bitter article, smack of desperation.
LOL! I was expecting a decent article and instead got a load of bias nonsense. You say united won’t make up a 4pt difference, yet Liverpool’s 9pts will be easily made up! This article is a joke.
i agree . who writes this crap ?
Rodgers blasts Shearer for telling the truth, if Allen who is brilliant in our own half is worth 15 mil then Shelvey who is up and down scores goals make goals must be worth 25 mil -Brendon should listen to the crowd Attack attack attack is showing frustration at no forward action from midfield. two top strikers at least or we are mid table at best.
Really? We’re not as good as them, not yet anyway. Maybe we could be in a few years with Raheem, Suso, Andre, Jonjo and I think even Joe Cole will come good. But now United are much better than us and will finish above us comfortably.
Wake up, David.
Poor,petty, bitter scousers. Im sure you feel terrible looking up (y)our perch. Plus Rafael’s goal beats all the “quality” in your team. And err i think we both know which team in red will be challenging for titles come May. Yep, its fergie’s team of unproven and untalented players who didnt attend diving class at Anfield.
i hav 2 say this is by far the most far fetchd article i eva read. Yes manu is far fr0m their best n they def far beta dan lfc. Stats n league positi0ns say enuf ova da last few yearz. Then u go on abt united at 2nd? Did u hav a look at wer lfc is? Do u stil think lfc wil hav a beta chance of finishn above united this seas0n? Lol, u need to catch a wake up mate
Lousy sia Liverpool.
I don’t understand this article, you fail to actually compare either of the squads. United have a stronger 11, bench and squad unfortunately. We don’t have anyone in the goal scoring mode of Robin Van Persie or Rooney. Those 2 seem to knock in 20 league goals a season. I think the obvious shouts that we do have stronger players in the odd position and last season I’d have argued Pepe and Stevie would have got in their 11 but Reina has appeared to be so arrogant with his kicking, concentration etc and Gerrard hasn’t been as effective since BR took over. Personally I’d love to see some of their winning mentalities in our players…
Im sure the writer nearly died in 08/09 season. Beating us home and away and still losing out on the title.
Take van Persie out Man u squad and they ate nothing!
People said the same about Ronaldo in 2006-2009 and Rooney in 2010-2012. Or for RVN before.
Veryn true bros.
we didnt have him last year idiot.Oh & thats right we lost the title on goal dif, WISE UP
This article made my day lol 🙂
onward we go….
ha ha ha!!!!!I think u have a very short memory,well then may be let me help u remember somethings.when
was the last time Liverpool won the league and i think Liverpool ended last season 34 pints behind manutd.