It’s been mostly a ride down for Liverpool, even though they looked like they’d come back and put up a solid run of games every time. However, the fact that they are unbeaten in the last five games of all competitions gets easily overshadowed by their exit from the Champions League. It was unfortunate for Liverpool to end up in the Europa League, which means they’ll be playing meaningless midweek fixtures in far corners of Europe. While there’s the possibility of winning that, and in the process qualifying for next year’s CL, Brendan Rodgers will know that league form is the most important and they must work toward beating the next team in line, fierce rivals Manchester United.
Liverpool vs Manchester United : Key Players, Positions And Breakdown
Tactics
Brendan Rodgers’ tactics are much under scrutiny now. After miserably failing with a 4-3-3, Rodgers moved on to a much more effective formation with two strikers up top. Raheem Sterling was usually given a striker’s role alongside Rickie Lambert, and Philippe Coutinho was employed behind them. Expect Rodgers to play a diamond formation against the Manchester side.
Steven Gerrard
A bench to Gerrard invigorated his goal scoring performance evidently, as he scored twice in the last three games, against Leicester and Basel. Gerrard is being played in his old CAM position where he looks much more threatening than usual, even running behind balls threaded forward. Expect Gerrard to have big, big influence on Liverpool’s attacks, whether he starts or is brought on.
Lucas Leiva
On the more defensive side of the team, Lucas has been quietly excellent. He was statistically the best player in the game vs Sunderland, where he completed 88% of 95 passes (the highest), made seven tackles and five interceptions. Put simply, he broke down every attack aimed at him and passed it forward for the more creative types to forge chances out of it. Since the game against Stoke, Liverpool has conceded 2 goals in 4 games, capturing two clean sheets in the process. His performance will be critical in deciding the number of goals that are going to be put past the Anfield side on Sunday.
Raheem Sterling
Liverpool’s Golden Boy has been consistently brilliant in his performances for his team. Without his ethereal dribbling ability, Liverpool’s attack would be more toothless than it already is. Sterling is not only just getting the ball and running past the defenders with lightning speed; he is also a very creative and intelligent player. The 20 year old has 3 goals and 4 assists to his name, both numbers highest in the team. This shows how the team is dependent on this young player. While it’s not a good thing for obvious reasons, Liverpool fans must pray that his performance is penetrating and powerful like it has been recently. Or they could be in some serious lack of goals.
Mario Balotelli
Yep, he was involved in just another controversy. Whether people like giving attention to the very little things he does or if he really likes creating trouble, we don’t know. He’s accepted the charge though. However, Liverpool fans’ only concern will be that he’s still not yet scored a Premier League goal for the Reds. A goal against Manchester United would work wonders for the Italian, and he could keep that momentum going on for a while. Last time he played against Manchester United, he scored twice in a 6-1 win at Old Trafford. Brendan Rodgers would surely be happy if he would stop creating problems for himself and start creating problems for Manchester United’s defense.
Form:
Liverpool – LDWWDD
Manchester United – WWWWW
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