As the finishing straight of the campaign nears, Erik ten Hag’s side find themselves frustratingly off the pace in the league once again.
United go into Sunday’s match a whopping 22 points behind Liverpool, having won only one of their last five Premier League games.
Clearly, Man Utd need to find players who are at Liverpool’s level, but how many do they already have?
This study isn’t based around styles or who might fit in most effectively at Anfield. After all, the chaotic nature of Liverpool’s play is very different from the style practised by Ten Hag. Instead, this is purely around which players have the highest SciSkill score, a rating given to players based around hundreds of in-game data points to determine quality.
There’s no contest in goal: Alisson blows Andre Onana out of the water and is on a different level to the Man Utd No.1.
Across the defence, there’s a similar story. No Man Utd player even gets close to starting for Liverpool, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate the best players in this area. Joe Gomez is also better than anything United have.
Things don’t get much better for Man Utd in midfield. The two deeper role in this team are filled by Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, with Ryan Gravenberch surpassing anyone Ten Hag can call upon in this area.
Where the Old Trafford side do finally have an edge is in that more attacking midfield role, which Bruno Fernandes takes.
Position Player Club
GK Alisson Liverpool
RB Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool
CB Virgil van Dijk Liverpool
CB Ibrahima Konate Liverpool
LB Andrew Robertson Liverpool
CM Alexis Mac Allister Liverpool
CM Dominik Szoboszlai Liverpool
ACM Bruno Fernandes Man Utd
RW Mohamed Salah Liverpool
CF Darwin Nunez Liverpool
LW Diogo Jota Liverpool
Liverpool’s dominance is regained on the wings. Mohamed Salah, of course, makes the grade on the right while Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz are all better than anything United can call upon on the left. Marcus Rashford would only be the Reds’ fourth choice in his favoured role.
Finally, the centre-forward role is dominated by Liverpool. Darwin Nunez is the best pure No.9 between the clubs, yet Jota could also be deployed in this role.
This shows the gulf that exists between the two great clubs at present, and why it could be some years before Man Utd are back fighting Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
