The managerial rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool has lost its enmity since Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benítez exited the stage and there was only respect from Brendan Rodgers for Louis van Gaal as he prepared for the Dutchman’s first competitive visit to Anfield. “He will still be one of the greats whenever he leaves Manchester United,” said the Liverpool manager of a man whose possession-based principles he has long admired, but whose appointment as a potential director of football at Anfield he vetoed in 2012. The desperate scrap for a Champions League ticket, however, ensures the edge remains as sharp as ever between the clubs when they collide on Sunday.
Unlike Liverpool, United have resided in the top four for most of the season and last Sunday’s comprehensive defeat of Tottenham Hotspur suggested form has clicked at an ideal time for Van Gaal and his collection of big-name attacking talent.
“We have to confirm it against Liverpool,” Van Gaal said, “because when we can confirm it then we can show that we are there. But it is the most difficult ground for Manchester United I have heard.”
So difficult that United’s training this week has been with the hostile atmosphere in mind. Van Gaal said: “I am the referee in the games that we have had in the training pitch and I have whistled the way that they have to control their aggression, for example, to prepare the atmosphere. Control of emotion is also a talent.”
Unlike United, indeed unlike any other team in the Premier League in 2015, Liverpool have a relentless momentum as they pursue Champions League qualification, at the potential expense of their fiercest rivals for a second successive season.
Liverpool were 10th in the Premier League and 10 points behind United after losing 3-0 at Old Trafford on 14 December. They have not lost a league game since and have reeled in Van Gaal’s men with 10 wins and three draws or, to reinforce the extent of the recovery, 33 points from the last 39 on offer. will not determine the top‑four finishers but could inflict a telling blow on a loser.
“There is still a long way to go. There are still big and important games to play,” Rodgers said. “But there would be a psychological boost from winning this game. I’m only worried about ourselves and I think the psychology of being so far behind United and then clawing it back in a short period, and possibly going above United, will help the players.
“Whatever way the result goes, I don’t think it makes it clear where you finish. It is still very close and very tight. For us it will just keep a remarkable run of games going against our rivals where we’ve won. We had big pressure games against Tottenham, Southampton and Manchester City so we know we can cope with the pressure.
“We want to continue with what we are trying to build here and that involves being in the Champions League. There will always be pressure and if you’re Manchester United, with what they’ve achieved over the last 20 years, it is a gimme that they want to be in there too.”
United’s results were more encouraging than their form pre-Spurs, winning six, drawing two and losing two of their 10 Premier League matches in 2015, and Van Gaal concurred that Sunday represents an important, but not defining, point for both clubs. The implications for not qualifying for the Champions League stretch way beyond this campaign.
“It shall last to the end and we are very close,” Van Gaal said. “But a win helps – and it helps a lot. It helps to continue for Manchester United because after a victory you need another victory to confirm what you have done against Tottenham. But Liverpool needs another victory after the loss against us. That was their last loss – in December – it’s unbelievable. They’ve played more or less the same system since then, for 12 or 13 weeks.”
Van Gaal said the 3-4-2-1 formation that Rodgers first deployed in the league at Old Trafford is a tactic he has employed in the past. It may have been where Rodgers got the idea, having been a keen student of the Dutchman’s work. “You can trace it back to his time at Ajax,” said Rodgers. “He had a clear philosophy about how he wanted to work. Everyone wants to win but your philosophy dictates how you want to do it.
“I have always been impressed from afar by the bravery and the courage he has as a coach. He wants his teams to dominate the ball and have the courage to play. That’s the most difficult thing in football – to get a team to work that way while being defensively strong. He’s someone I have admired over a long period.”
It is players that make systems work and Van Gaal hopes Wayne Rooney can improve his goals return at Anfield. The boyhood Evertonian has scored once in 10 appearances at Liverpool and the United manager has not completely ruled out the possibility of the England captain having to overcome a mental block. “It can be,” Van Gaalsaid. “I cannot deny that but I don’t think that Wayne has a block of that.
“He’s a very experienced player, he has played on all the grounds in the world so I don’t think he shall be influenced by the fans at the stadium or something like that. But Liverpool for Manchester United is not a very easy ground. Now I’m the manager here maybe we can change that.”
