Which Liverpool will we see against Manchester United?

Liverpool play Manchester United on Sunday.

On December 19th Liverpool handed Crystal Palace a huge lesson as they beat the London side 7-0 the week before Christmas. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds side demolished their opponents with a near-perfect match.

In the three fixtures since the Reds have played uninspired unimaginative football, dropping seven points in their next three ties, quite possibly the lowest level of form from Liverpool in three years.

A paltry seven shots on target and only one goal to show for their efforts over their next three ties, have found them now three points back of their arch-rivals at United.

It seems that the challenge for Jurgen Klopp and the coaching staff is tantamount to squaring the circle, as it were, with attempting to negotiate Premier League ties without a proper first-team centre-back.

Joel Matip had reoccurring injury issues which highlights the crisis to a large degree through the autumn and early winter campaign.

We have all seen and witnessed this battle against an unprecedented injury crisis in the center of the defensive backline. The adversity which has befallen the Reds in this campaign has been unrelenting and shows little evidence of letting up any time soon.

Klopp, in a recent article in the Mirror, addresses these concerns and how this fits into the big picture going forward with their next 10 fixtures largely defining their season and it’s overall success.

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While fans are imploring Michael Edwards to bring in competent cover at the beleaguered center back position, this seems highly unlikely at this point, when considering Jurgen’s statements regarding the difficulty of winter windows in general and this year’s transfer window in particular. Team finances continue to be an issue due to revenue lost during a year of pandemic.

Let’s face it, it’s looking increasingly likely Liverpool will not get a competent cover for CB in this window, which means playing the remainder of this campaign without a proper first-team center back – relying heavily on the youngster Rhys Williams, and Nat Philips alongside enlisted cover from Fabinho.

His placement through necessity in the central defense has been superb, but with a glaring cost to midfield continuity and defensive cover in his no. 6 holding defensive role.

As Klopp says succinctly in the Mirror article, this has had ramifications and negative impact across the pitch.

And so their character and quality will be tested again come Sunday when United come to Anfield to attempt to put their bonafides on the line as proper title challengers to these Champion Reds.

The Reds will also be putting a 67 match unbeaten streak at home on the line in this tie. Clearly, United are stoked and playing decent football for Ole Gunnar in the past weeks, and smell blood in the water surrounding these wounded and out of form Reds.

With a chance to put up a six-point break between themselves and Liverpool, expect this tie to have even more significance than the normal hatred which defines the relationship between these two giants of the Premier League.

After a two week break in Premier League ties, with an FA cup victory over Villa sandwiched in between, the Reds will be on point to show their quality here, finding their elusive form, breaking out of their lowest point in league play since 2017.

Which Liverpool will show up Sunday? The dominating, mentality monster ethos that largely dominated their season a year ago, or the back down to earth, just so so side we have seen play since their loss to Athletico in the Champions League in March last year.

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If Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool have any designs or aspirations to repeat as Premier League champions this turn, it begins Sunday against United at Anfield.

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