This is the real derby, the real rivalry. A bitter one at that.
These two clubs are the most successful in British football and the most followed, they are the real deal. Clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City may come with their super rich sugar daddies to shake the table, but whenever the dust settles, Manchester United and Liverpool FC still remain the top guns.
The two clubs have very strong foundations and traditional that over the decades, they have been able to fight off pretenders to their respective thrones. Blackburn Rovers, Leeds, Â and to an extent, Portsmouth, have come with their moneybags but they fell by the wayside when the rich owners got bored and packed their bags and went after other toys to play with.
Any premiership clash between Liverpool and Manchester United is always the most watched game. They both have millions of fans all over the world. Their battles are the English version of the El Classico.
This weekend’s game has taken on another dimension.
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Liverpool are top of the league, one point ahead of City and they will want to maintain that. Manchester United are struggling under Mourinho but we all know these are the types of games Mourinho loves.
He will do anything to ensure he doesn’t lose this one, even if he has to park ten molues in front of the goalposts.
Last season, Liverpool were blasting away clubs. They were always fast off the blocks and before you know it, you are already two goals down.
However, they had no plan B. They relied mainly on the pace of their front three Mane, Firmino and Salah to do the damage, but if clubs stayed put and didn’t provide the space to run into, they became unstuck.
Also, granted Liverpool had arguably the best attack, their defence was their Achilles’s heels. It was very porous, they had to score at least three goals to be certain they would win a game because it was likely they would concede two.
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Klopp went back to the drawing board and decided to beef up his defence. He first got Virgil van Dijk and then bought Brazilian goalkeeper, Allison.
The trick worked because Liverpool have kept 12 clean sheets this season alone and we are not even half way yet.
While City have gone nuclear, spending money on players all over the place, Liverpool have been more shrewd with the way they did their business. True, van Dijk (75m) and Allison (67m) didn’t come cheap, it becomes good business when you realise that the 142m pounds spent on both players was the exact amount Liverpool got from Barcelona when they sold Philippe Coutinho.
Klopp has also showed he is not just about spending big money, he has gone to the club’s academy to recruit and improve players.
Three of his first choice back four-Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson were academy players.
Liverpool are now a well organised and disciplined side and they will go all out to win this one. They want to remain ahead of City going to their potentially title decider on January 3,when both sides clash at the Etihad Stadium. But then, they have to beware of Mourinho, the spoilsport from Old Trafford.