Liverpool's two Dutchmen dodged a bullet with Manchester United

261 miles separate the Vitality Stadium and Anfield, so at least the 1,299 Manchester United supporters in the away end were a relatively safe distance on Sunday.

It is unlikely any of them tuned into Five Live on the journey back to Manchester. The gushing presenter, Steve Crossman, silently observed The Kop's chorus of You'll Never Walk Alone as if it was a national anthem.

Liverpool have earned the airtime and column inches. Their superb succession plan has yielded a 20th title. United botched theirs, as Sir Matt Busby did in 1969.

It is 12 years and counting without a new engraving onto the honours' board under the Premier League trophy silhouette. United are certain to go at least half as long without the title as they did between 1967-93.

United are the punchline again. Their Dutch manager oversaw their worst league finish in 34 years and could not get a tune out of the plethora of Dutch-schooled players he recruited. Liverpool's Dutch manager won the title at the first time of asking and got a tune out of the Dutch-schooled players he inherited.

Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo were, of course, of interest to Ten Hag back in 2022. Those two dodged a bullet.

"He (Ten Hag) did have a voice," Sir Jim Ratcliffe acknowledged, "which is why there were one or two Dutch players." That was very glib of Ratcliffe during his therapeutic chat with Gary Neville. One or two Dutch players at an up-front cost of £75million. Staff and matchgoers will pay the price through redundancies and season-ticket hikes.

United's only truly successful signing of the past 12 years, Bruno Fernandes, might even elicit a smirk from those on the red side of Stanley Park. Liverpool scouted Fernandes at Sporting but opted against advancing their