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 teenage 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’d come on for John Toshack in an unaccustomed ‘number ten’ role behind Kevin Keegan, that day. It was the kind of self-confidence Shankly imbued in his players. United, struggling under Frank O’Farrell in their tough times after Sir Matt Busby had stepped away, also fielded Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, yet still lost 3-0 in that game.
It does not seem an entirely dissimilar dynamic this weekend as 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 few more months at least.
The teams meet two months after 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 United’s extremely lucky draw at Brentford and desperate defeat at Chelsea in the past week, this will take a considerable time.
Manchester United and Liverpool will renew their historic rivalry again on Sunday afternoon
Sir Jim Ratcliffe declared his wish to knock Liverpool ‘off their perch’ along with Man City
Ratcliffe’s immediate recruitment 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 those looking to fill the same position.
The appeal of Gareth Southgate for Ratcliffe is plain to see. The England manager is extremely well-known to 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 for them, though Ratcliffe is thought to be determined not to allow the court of public opinion to affect his strategy. Either way, it feels like United are merely in the foothills of a rebuild which might allow them to compete with the best again.
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 tells Mail Sport.
‘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 a long while now at United. They’ve signed too many maverick types. The likes of Paul Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo and maybe even Jadon Sancho have not been good for team morale. You can’t have that. 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.’
The Reds have begun preparing for life after Jurgen Klopp, who leaves at the end of the season
Erik ten Hag’s position looks under threat with United set to miss out on the Champions League
Bryan Robson, United legend and ambassador, feels the distance from the top should not be exaggerated, with chronic injuries, especially to defenders, part of the explanation of this topsy-turvy season and United a top-class striker away from mounting a challenge.
‘The forwards are all young, apart from Marcus Rashford,’ Robson tells Mailsport.
‘Can we buy a centre forward to go with Rasmus Hojlund? Because you can’t rely on one centre forward and we need more goals in the team. We’ve got some top-class players at the back and it’s up to them to stay fit, stay in the team and develop an understanding. So, add a few more players to it and you could be closer than some people are suggesting.’
Klopp’s departure provides some succour to United as they seek to make up the gap on Liverpool. FSG’s decision to bring back Michael Edwards as CEO of football and Richard Hughes from Bournemouth as sporting director underlines how they, too, view organisation as everything.
‘It won’t be perfect when Jurgen Klopp goes but they know, if they keep that squad together, there will be a disciplined group in place for whoever takes over,’ says Thompson. ‘Then they have men above who know the profile of player they must add to that squad if necessary.’
Robson feels that the Anfield transition cannot be entirely smooth, whoever takes Klopp’s seat. ‘The players will be thinking, “who’s coming in?”’ he says.
‘And when Liverpool make the decision, does the manager who comes in play in a little bit of a different style? Does he have a few little different principles? You never really know how the change-around is going to be.’
The 18-year old Thompson, who would go on to lift the European Cup in Paris in 1981, came close to scoring in his Old Trafford debut match, cutting inside Martin Buchan and letting fly off his left foot.
United legend Bryan Robson believes injuries partly explain his former club’s mixed campaign
‘Alex Stepney stretched full length to save it,’ he says. ‘It was the first time I heard Liverpool fans shout my name. It was an incredibly humbling experience.’
You never know when the next talent might be just around the corner and it is now United who are hoping that a local, 18-year-old of their own, Kobbie Mainoo, just might help them on their path to regaining supremacy over Liverpool and the rest.
‘He seems to be a great lad around the place,’ Robson says of the teenager. ‘He looks like he could be a top-drawer player so long as he keeps his feet on the ground and works hard on his game.’
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