Anfield away end will show Erik ten Hag has given Manchester United fans their team back

When Manchester United walk out at Anfield on Sunday it will be nearly 11 months since they were last there, but for the supporters occupying the corner of the Anfield Road end, it will feel like a different lifetime.

United were humiliated on Merseyside 320 days ago. A 4-0 defeat took the aggregate score to 9-0 across two games that season. While Liverpool chased four trophies, United were a laughing stock.

In the post-match press conference, Ralf Rangnick said the club were six years behind Liverpool and needed 10 new players. The mood around Old Trafford was as dark and despondent as it had been for a decade. They looked miles away.

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Fast forward to March 2023 and United head to Anfield this weekend still in the hunt for four trophies themselves, even if the Premier League looks a more distant dream by the week, while Liverpool contemplate their own summer rebuild.

It can be hard to articulate the scale of the transformation Erik ten Hag has overseen at Old Trafford, but this weekend looks a neat one for the purposes of comparison. Not only has the mood around the club lifted considerably, but the squad has been reshaped as well.

Phil Jones started last April in a three-man defence and the team included both Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diogo Dalot. Paul Pogba played his final 10 minutes for the club before limping away to the sound of abuse from the away end and he was replaced by Jesse Lingard., who is now struggling to get in the Nottingham Forest team. The only cheers from the away end came when Hannibal Mejbri arrived for the final six minutes and started booting people.

Of the 20-man matchday squad for that fixture on April 19, 2022, eight players