There have been moments in the rich history of collisions between Manchester United and Liverpool when grace under pressure from a promising young talent was all it took to prevail.
It was 52 years ago this week that a teenaged Phil Thompson made his debut for Bill Shankly’s Liverpool at Old Trafford and almost immediately found George Best running towards him. ‘I showed him towards nutmegging me and he went for it, but I managed to close my skinny legs in time. It bounced off my shins and I ran away with the ball,’ Thompson relates. ‘The great George Best. And I’d got the ball!’
Not bad for a substitute who had come on for John Toshack in an unaccustomed No 10 role. It was the kind of self-confidence Shankly imbued in his players. United, struggling under Frank O’Farrell after Sir Matt Busby stepped away, also fielded Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, yet still lost 3-0.
It is not an entirely dissimilar dynamic on Sunday. United, still deeply flawed and utterly unpredictable, 11 years on from the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s dynasty, face a Liverpool jet propelled by the spirit of Jurgen Klopp, for a couple more months at least.
The teams meet two months after new United shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe declared his wish to knock Liverpool ‘our other neighbour’, as he described them – ‘off their perch’, along with Manchester City. On the evidence of the lucky draw at Brentford and desperate defeat at Chelsea in the past week, this will take a considerable time.
Ratcliffe’s immediate pursuit of Dan Ashworth as sporting director underlines the fact that he considered poor player recruitment to be at the heart of United’s problems, with Jason Wilcox now identified as technical director.
But finding the manager to lead the squad won’t be easy, given a competitive market this summer, with Liverpool and Bayern Munich among the clubs looking to fill the same position.
The appeal of Gareth Southgate is plain to see. The England boss is extremely well-known to Ratcliffe’s Ineos director of sport, Sir Dave Brailsford. He recently attended Brailsford’s 60th birthday, at which Ashworth, Ferguson, Roy Hodgson and Arsene Wenger were all present.
The sentiment among many United fans is that Southgate is too cautious, though Ratcliffe is thought to be determined not to allow public opinion to affect his strategy. Either way, it feels like United are merely in the foothills of a rebuild.
Thompson, former Liverpool captain and assistant manager, feels United are at least two years off staking any kind of title challenge. ‘As a coach at Liverpool I’ve been where United are now, trying to get back to a team that wins trophies regularly,’ he says.
‘It’s not nice when you are searching for those answers. You have been used to winning trophies then suddenly you lose that culture of good habits, you’re no longer all pulling in one direction and things spiral out of control.
‘It has been like that for a long while now at United. They’ve signed too many mavericks. The likes of Paul Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo and maybe even Jadon Sancho have not been good for morale. It’s as if United haven’t been doing their due diligence on signings. You can’t move forward if you don’t have the right characters.’
United legend Bryan Robson feels the distance from the top should not be exaggerated, with chronic injuries, especially to defenders, partly explaining this topsy-turvy season.
‘The forwards are all young, apart from Marcus Rashford,’ he says. ‘We’ve got top-class players at the back and it’s up to them to stay fit and develop an understanding. So, add a few more players and you could be closer than some people are suggesting.’
Klopp’s imminent departure provides some succour to United. FSG’s decision to bring back Michael Edwards as CEO of football and Richard Hughes from Bournemouth as sporting director underlines how Liverpool’s owners, too, view organisation as everything.
‘It won’t be perfect when Klopp goes but if they keep that squad together, there will be a disciplined group in place,’ says Thompson. ‘Then they have men above who know the profile of player they must add if necessary.’
