As Newcastle United eased themselves towards just their second league win at Old Trafford since 1972 on Monday evening, it may not have been the horrible feeling of ending 2024 on a bum note that left the Manchester United home crowd ashen faced, but rather the dread of thinking what the start of 2025 could bring.
Ask any United fan how they would like to bring in the new year and a trip to Anfield would surely be at the very bottom of the list.
Ruben Amorim’s team have lost five of their last six Premier League games and failed to score in four of them. It was a shambolic December that has seen them fall to 14th in the table and the manager trying to salvage the last drop of positive morale his appointment brought.
Liverpool will be licking their lips ahead of Sunday. In stark contrast to their opponents, they went unbeaten last month and finished the calendar year with a flourish of three victories (two away from home) that had them scoring 14 goals.
Arne Slot’s side lead the division by six points and have a game in hand over second-placed Arsenal. This topsy-turvy rivalry rarely has Liverpool and United in sync and so it is only true to history that as Liverpool eye a second league title in 35 years, their northwest adversaries are in the doldrums.
Focus has turned to Amorim’s system of choice (the 3-4-3 to which he is wedded) during United’s recent losses. Defeats to Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers preceded the Newcastle debacle — and before that game he said that it would be “the end for any coach” if they started changing their ideas because of results.
The Portuguese achieved great success at Sporting using that set-up and doesn’t appear to be for turning in the early days of his United tenure. Rightly so, too.
Amorim was hired because of his principles, not despite of them, and he deserves to get a fair crack at making it work his way — that includes the signing of players that suit his style. It’s unfair to expect him to upend his fundamentals after only 11 games.
The stink of short-termism comes from United allowing a lame-duck manager in Erik ten Hag to have a say in the summer transfer business and then dispense with him only a few months later in favour of a coach who utilises a very different playing ideology.
Amorim’s hands may be partly tied for now, though with the philosophy there must also be practicality. And to try and play the exact same way as they attempted against Newcastle at Anfield would be verging on stupidity. This is a stadium in which they have suffered 4-0 and, infamously, 7-0 losses in recent seasons.
There has to be an element of pragmatism given where United currently find themselves and where they are about to head. Amorim said that people may “look at the three defenders” as a big deal but he doesn’t see the game like that and the details are more nuanced. “We will adapt for every opponent,” he added. “We need time.”
Time is what Amorim will get, but what United cannot afford is to let Liverpool have the sort of start that saw them fall two goals behind to Eddie Howe’s team inside 20 minutes. “I think that is clear,” Amorim acknowledged. “That is a massive problem for us and it was not just this game. When I arrive we were scoring one goal in the first minutes and then it changed.
“In the bad moment when we suffer a goal it is so hard to connect the players in the game plan. We have to be prepared for a strong start from Liverpool. I am just focused on the performance. I am not focused on losing or what could happen. We had some losses, we prepared for this game to win and we know what we are going to face.”
Man Utd must become harder to play against
Minimising the gaping holes in midfield and not starting with Cristian Eriksen and Casemiro — fine players of yesteryear but not able to hold together a Premier League midfield now — would represent a start. Kobbie Mainoo’s energy from the bench was an immediate improvement in the second half on Monday.
Avoiding concessions from crosses and tightening up at the back will also be key. If Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy had joy at Old Trafford, then just think of the damage Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz could wreak. The trio have contributed 42 goals between themselves this term, as Liverpool go in search for a league double over their rivals.
This is Slot’s first welcoming of United to Anfield and he confirmed that Trent Alexander-Arnold will start the game and remains focused at the end of a week that has seen Real Madrid formally register their interest in the player whose contract is up at the end of the season. Liverpool rebuffed any advancements.
Marcus Rashford, another whose future remains uncertain, has not featured since being omitted for the derby last month and will miss this match because of “illness”. Bruno Fernandes will return following a one-game suspension.
It was rather disrespectful of one reporter to ask Slot whether he intends to rest any players for the visit of their under-fire opponents. “Will I rest players? That’s a strange question,” Slot replied to the tongue-in-cheek enquiry. “No. of course I am not going to plan to rest any players.
“It is a big game. For me, I can say it one more time they have much better players in my opinion than maybe the league table shows. It is going to take a while maybe for Ruben Amorim to bring it out of the players but they will definitely go up and they are much, much, much better than the league shows at the moment.”
Whilst Liverpool will hope to maintain, if not extend, their lead at the top, United may just be hoping to prove Slot correct. A triumph for United would be not playing like they’re the 14th-best team in the league.
