There’s a mouth-watering array of Premier League football to look forward to this weekend… But there’s also the unappetising prospect of watching Manchester United host Liverpool on Monday night.
Around the world, from Stretford, to Dublin, to New York and Shanghai, Manchester United fans are shaking their heads and wondering if they can survive another 90 minutes of the club’s on-going collapse.
Could this be the week things change? Could this be the week we get Frenkie De Jong? Could this even be the week the Glazers sell up?
No. As hopeful as we all are, none of those things sound likely right now and watching Manchester United on Monday night is set to be the next depressing episode in the long-running soap opera of the club’s demise.
It’s a pessimistic view, yes, but Reds have been given little reason for optimism recently. Also, as we’ve discussed on this platform across the Stretford Paddock YouTube channel and news site, we believe that a change of ownership is needed before we see real, lasting, positive change at United.
All the same – let’s take a look at Monday night’s fixture.
Of course, Liverpool have started the campaign badly too, but in their 2-2 draw against Fulham on the opening weekend and their 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace – while down to ten men – Klopp’s side have shown themselves to be a more cohesive team than United, with more creativity and more defensive solidity.
How will Manchester United combat that?
MANCHESTER UNITED
David De Gea willingly shouldered a large portion of the blame for United’s shambolic performance at Brentford.
“It was a horrible day, I should have saved the first shot and then the result may have been different”.
David de Gea in a post-match interview
There’s no doubt De Gea gave a mistake-littered performance. Now, there’s a big question over his starting place.
Will Ten Hag stick with the struggling Spaniard, or give a chance to backup keeper Tom Heaton?
Likewise, bad performances across the pitch and throughout the last two games have thrown most starting places into question. The fact that Fred, Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez were all hooked at half-time during the battering at Brentford suggests they’re out of favour currently. As a result we may see McTominay, Tyrell Malacia and Varane start in their places against Liverpool.
The current feeling among United fans and pundits seems to be that we should give more responsibility to youth players. The likes of James Garner, Hannibal Mejbri and Alejandro Garnacho have shown plenty of promise and surely deserve more game time during this difficult spell. It still seems unlikely that the manager will rely on them at this stage though.
LINE-UP
We wouldn’t be surprised if United lined up like this:
De Gea, Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Malacia, Eriksen, McTominay, Bruno, Elanga, Sancho, Ronaldo
But – after quite how low United’s performances have stooped – we would rather see Ten Hag roll the dice and try a new line-up, with an emphasis on freshness, change and youth. An experienced spine supported by driven, energetic youth players who are eager to prove themselves. After all, how much worse can it get?
Something like this:
Heaton, Williams, Varane, Axel, Malacia, Eriksen, Hannibal, Garner, Sancho, Elanga, Rashford
If you think that’s crazy – watch last week’s game back and take a moment to reflect on Alan Hansen’s famous “You’ll win nothin’ with kids” gaff.
OPPOSITION
As we’ve already noted, Liverpool are struggling and have taken only two points from their opening two fixtures. With Darwin Nunez sent off for violent conduct (which came in the form of a notable headbutt,) during the Crystal Palace game they’re also without one of their new star signings.
All the same, the Merseyside team showed moments of brilliance in their stumbling performance. Most notably Luis Diaz’s 61st minute equalising goal, which was a tremendous individual effort.
Comparably, United seem short of ideas both individually and collectively and seem like the perfect team for Liverpool to play to regain their confidence. It’s a grim prospect for United fans.
PREDICTION
Typically, Liverpool have shown themselves to be vulnerable to the counter-attack, which Wilfred Zaha capitalised on for Crystal Palace’s goal on Monday night. Hopefully United target this and select pacey attacking players from the off – the likes of Elanga, Sancho and Rashford.
That’s wishful thinking though and ultimately Liverpool goals seem inevitable, while United have shown next-to-no attacking threat this season.
Unfortunately, we’re expecting to be soundly beaten by Liverpool and personally I think we’ll slump to a 3-0 loss, or similar.
What are your predictions? Have you found any reason for optimism? Get in touch with us on social media @spaddockblog or @stretfordpaddck and tell us what you think. Then head over to our YouTube channel to hear the latest from the team on line-ups, team news and more.