3. Untested United
They have played no one. At least no one who is good at football. The list in the Premier League reads: West Ham; Swansea; Leicester; Stoke; Everton; Southampton & Crystal Palace. That is seven of the bottom nine teams. The two highest ranked teams – Southampton and Stoke – are at the heady heights of 12th and 13th in the Premier League. They couldn’t beat Stoke and only squeaked a one-nil victory against an anaemic Southampton.
What about the Champions League or League cup? They’ve faced the might of Basel, CSKA Moscow and Burton Albion. Now to be fair, they have beaten almost all of these teams. I’m not sure Liverpool could have said the same. However, we do not really know how good they are despite their impressive record.
They have played one good team this year; Real Madrid in the European Super Cup final. They gotten soundly beaten 2-1. Victor Lindelof and Ander Herrera were so poor that day they have yet to see much Premier League action this season. The score line did not reflect how badly Manchester United were beaten.
We are not Real Madrid but we are a lot better than anyone else they’ve faced since. Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho are going to be the best three players they’ve come up against since that final. Let’s see how good they really are.