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| Liverpool v Manchester United: Premier League – live! | Liverpool v Manchester United: Premier League – live! |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| 12.53pm GMT12:53 | |
| “I’ve little doubt that their good form will continue today, but is there a worry for Liverpool that sooner or later it will drop off unless they develop more ruthlessness and clinical-ness up front?” wonders David Wall. “That might seem a silly idea at the moment but if you look at their goals over the past month or so then the majority have been scored by long range shots (I checked the results and match reports for March and February to check the suspicion). | |
| “While it’s true that if you have better players, more pressure, more of the ball around the opposition area, and are prepared to shoot, then you’re more likely to score from long range. Nonetheless it is more difficult, and you’re bound to have days when those shots end up in the top of the stand rather than the top corner of the goal. | |
| “Unless they start taking more of the close-range chances that they make then one of those days might coincide with an important fixture. Seeing as they’re still trying to catch those teams in the Champions’ League places (though I do think that will change by the end of today), I wonder if that might cost them in the run in.” | |
| 12.50pm GMT12:50 | |
| Tactical analysis: the teams are pretty much as expected. But will Liverpool have their usual fluency with Raheem Sterling on the right? The absence of Lazar Markovic could be a blow. | |
| 12.39pm GMT12:39 | |
| Ladies and gentlemen, the teams | |
| Liverpool: Mignolet; Can, Skrtel, Sakho; Sterling, Henderson, Allen, Moreno; Lallana, Sturridge, Coutinho. Subs: Jones, Johnson, Toure, Gerrard, Lambert, Lucas, Balotelli. | |
| Manchester United: De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Blind; Mata, Carrick, Ander Herrera, Young; Fellaini; Rooney. Subs: Da Silva, Rojo, Di Maria, Falcao, Januzaj, Valdes, Pereira. | |
| Referee: Martin Atkinson | |
| Updated at 12.39pm GMT | |
| 12.00pm GMT12:00 | 12.00pm GMT12:00 |
| Preamble | |
| Hello. Some people can read numbers and congratulations to them for that. They can, for instance, look at Manchester United’s recent results and tell you that have been on a great run of form, that everything is fine and dandy and that Louis van Gaal is doing an excellent job. That’s what the numbers say. United have lost only twice in the league since 2 November and they are fourth in the league, so what’s there to complain about? | Hello. Some people can read numbers and congratulations to them for that. They can, for instance, look at Manchester United’s recent results and tell you that have been on a great run of form, that everything is fine and dandy and that Louis van Gaal is doing an excellent job. That’s what the numbers say. United have lost only twice in the league since 2 November and they are fourth in the league, so what’s there to complain about? |
| It depends how you define form. On the one hand, you can argue that the result is all that matters; fair enough. Equally, though, you can go deeper and question whether the final score was a fair reflection of what actually occurred during the match, whether it indicates that a defeat may be waiting just around the corner. Flaws were evident while United were grinding out results and they were exposed against Arsenal, Southampton and Swansea. | It depends how you define form. On the one hand, you can argue that the result is all that matters; fair enough. Equally, though, you can go deeper and question whether the final score was a fair reflection of what actually occurred during the match, whether it indicates that a defeat may be waiting just around the corner. Flaws were evident while United were grinding out results and they were exposed against Arsenal, Southampton and Swansea. |
| And at the other end of the scale, sometimes there are positives to be taken from a defeat. On 14 December, Liverpool lost 3-0 at Old Trafford. A disaster? Not quite. Look a little closer. Before that day, Liverpool were a team struggling for identity, but it was an afternoon when Brendan Rodgers hit upon the 3-4-3 formation that has been such a success in the past three months. It was the start of something. They lost, but they gained a lot. Victory today would take them above United and into the top four. | And at the other end of the scale, sometimes there are positives to be taken from a defeat. On 14 December, Liverpool lost 3-0 at Old Trafford. A disaster? Not quite. Look a little closer. Before that day, Liverpool were a team struggling for identity, but it was an afternoon when Brendan Rodgers hit upon the 3-4-3 formation that has been such a success in the past three months. It was the start of something. They lost, but they gained a lot. Victory today would take them above United and into the top four. |
| The momentum would be with Liverpool. Yet United may just have clawed some of the stuff back in last Sunday’s 3-0 win over Tottenham. It was their best performance of the season and for 45 exhilarating minutes, for the first time in a long time, they looked like Manchester United again. There is optimism in both camps now, so we have the ingredients for a cracker. | The momentum would be with Liverpool. Yet United may just have clawed some of the stuff back in last Sunday’s 3-0 win over Tottenham. It was their best performance of the season and for 45 exhilarating minutes, for the first time in a long time, they looked like Manchester United again. There is optimism in both camps now, so we have the ingredients for a cracker. |
| Kick-off: 1.30pm. | Kick-off: 1.30pm. |
| Updated at 12.38pm GMT |