Liverpool, Manchester United and a shifting dynamic towards similarity

I t was October 2021 and Jürgen Klopp was in a knife-twisting mood. “United never look happy when they play us,” he told his Liverpool squad in their final team meeting before their visit to Old Trafford. “They always want to use this game to sort out everything. We are different. We want to squeeze everything out of this amazing situation we have here.” The subtext was clear enough: this was a team liable to shatter on first contact. In for the kill.

Before the game, as Liverpool coach Pep Lijnders recounts in his book Intensity, Klopp and his staff homed in on United’s pressure points with a sadistic relish. Scott McTominay and Fred were to be targeted ruthlessly in midfield. Roberto Firmino was assigned to drag Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelöf out of position. Bruno Fernandes’s space was to be shut down aggressively. The result was a 5-0 victory, the Theatre of Dreams set ablaze, thousands of fans beating a path for the exits at half-time.

But even as Klopp savoured one of his signature triumphs, he saw what was coming, even if not everyone else did. In an interview with German television that same month, he reflected on the shifting landscape of the Premier League, with new investment flooding in and the old giants regrouping. “United are United,” he said. “They won’t stop investing until it works out at some point.”

Has that point now been reached? Before United’s trip to Anfield on Sunday there has been a good deal of talk about a changing of the guard, a seismic shift in the rivalry, an ascendant United conquering all before them and a demoralised Liverpool leaking goals all over the place. Never mind that Liverpool haven’t conceded at home in the league all year and that Erik ten Hag’s side are yet to record