The ghosts of 7-0

It’s almost a year since Manchester United’s biggest Anfield embarrassment. The surprising and humiliating 7-0, received in March of last year in the traditional and passionate ‘North West Derby’ of English football, continues to be a black stain for the ‘red devils’ in the history of the great confrontation with between Liverpool and United. On Sunday they will once again encounter all the ghosts of the brutal defeat that have still not been buried. The atmosphere and environment of the game adds to them. Jurgen Klopp’s team is, once again, the leader of the Premier and Ten Hag’s United lives without unity, dissatisfaction and a long crisis of results.

Klopp often says that the key to a good team is “knowing how to bear failure when you lose and be able to smile and find joy the next day.” He applied it to Liverpool this year and his motivational techniques worked well to reconnect his team and reawaken their ambition. It is no coincidence that he is once again the leader of the Premier, after Anfield became a hostile setting for rivals and regained the best Salah, who has reached 150 goals in the English league. Quite the opposite of United, fragile and weak at Old Trafford, where the atmosphere of discord between coach and players is palpable, some, like their faded star Rashford, showing a lack of commitment to the difficult that moment.

In the intense rivalry between the two clubs in the north-west of England, the effects of that cruel 7-0 were not forgotten, which emphasized the problems of Erik ten Hag in establishing his project in Manchester, where he led the last year to win the EFL Cup title and return it to the top four in the Premier. Memories of that win, the worst defeat in their history at Anfield, will fly away on Sunday because of the impact of their exit from the Champions League and the sadness that their last two results left Old Trafford, empty and don’t care about constant disappointment.

At the top after two years

It is a ‘derby’, moreover, that comes between strong contrasts. For the first time in over two years, Liverpool look to top the Premier League. This in itself refers to the reinvention of the ‘reds’ under Klopp’s command, which still depends on the performance of Mohamed Salah up front, but has been able to adapt well to the new signings (McAllister, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Kendo ) and again find solidity and regularity in their results. This year he again made himself respected at Anfield, where he won all his games.

Klopp likes to talk about ‘Liverpool reloaded’, to refer to the new phase he has built at the ‘reds’. It required methodical planning during the preseason, with triple physical sessions, and long motivation sessions from resilience experts with the players, to convince them that Liverpool could, once again, succeed. There was an important moment, which was the commitment made by its star, Salah, not to go to Arab football. Al Ittihad even offered him a contract of 150 million pounds. The club’s ownership, the company Fenway Sports Group (FSG), remained firm, improving his contract and also investing in the reinforcements that Klopp requested to improve the level of the squad, such as the arrival of Dutchman Gravenberch, the club’s fourth signing since. the agreements with Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo.

The signs at the beginning of the season are promising, with 7 victories at Anfield and a single defeat, against Tottenham Hotspurs (2-1), statistics that are at the level of the performance he showed in 2020, when he was able to bring down the Manchester City and win the title. The strength of this new Liverpool was seen in the energy, dynamism and creativity of its midfield, to take advantage of the characteristics of its scorers, Salah, Diogo Jota, Luis Díaz, Darwin Núñez and Gakpo, and had youngsters, such as Curtis Jones , Jarell Quansah or Harvey Elliot, moving forward. Liverpool are the second top scorers in the Premier (35 goals), one behind City, and the least scored (with 15 goals, tied with Arsenal). They lead United by 10 points, the mark that marks the current difference in performance.

For this clash of the highest rivalry against United, the modified stands of the Anfield Road Stand will be unveiled, where 57,000 fans will be able to attend the match on Sunday, in the always noisy and special atmosphere, created by the historic rivalry in between two clubs. of north-west england. Fears of a repeat of last year’s ordeal have put United at a crossroads, as manager Eric ten Hag continues to ask for more time, at a difficult time for the club, which has been for several weeks just before Sir Jim Ratcliffe was confirmed as the new co-owner, with 25% of the shares, after a sale process that had been going on for 12 months.

Angry United fans continued this week with protests against American ownership, the Glazer family, in an uproar expected to be calmed by Ratcliffe’s arrival. All signs of improvement seem to have disappeared from the Red Devils, who have already accumulated 12 defeats throughout the season. “Now we can focus on the Premier League, to get into the top four,” said a hurried Ten Hag, after crashing out of the Champions League, but it sounded more like a declaration of incompetence than an injection of real confidence to face the bad memories and the tough test on Sunday at Anfield