Role reversal from Manchester to Merseyside Some put the past behind them as they head into retirement, letting bygones be bygones and consigning old enemies to the depths of their memory banks. Not Sir Alex Ferguson, however, who used the pulpit that publishers granted him to take a few parting shots. Still consumed by the Manchester United-Liverpool rivalry, he declared in his autobiography that Steven Gerrard was not “a top, top player” and criticised Jordan Henderson for a gait that Ferguson claimed would cause injury problems for a formidably fit footballer. Ferguson has won 13 league titles since Liverpool claimed their last in 1990. His musings were written on assumption that the balance of power would remain the same: that “the Liverpool Way” was altogether less successful than the United approach. The managerial knight claimed that Brendan Rodgers side was “eight players short of being genuine title contenders.” Instead, with the selfsame squad Rodgers possessed when Ferguson opined that Liverpool stood no chance, Rodgers has steered The Reds into a hugely promising position, and in such style that Jose Mourinho, ever conscious of rivals’ prowess and eager to portray Chelsea as underdogs, now pretends the Merseysiders are likelier champions than his league leaders. It highlights the swift role reversal between United and Liverpool: At the start of the season, it did not seem a rash prediction to suggest one would be second now and the other sixth. The surprise is that Liverpool are challenging for the championship and United are clinging to a Europa League place. Last season, the Liverpudlian Reds recorded only one league win against top-eight opposition; that unwanted mantle now belongs to their Mancunian counterparts. So perceptions have shifted quickly. With the possible exception of 2009, when Rafa Benitez had a core of world-class players but United a far deeper squad, it may be first the time in the Premier League era that a joint XI could feature more Liverpool players. On current form, Henderson and Gerrard -- both targets of Ferguson’s quill -- would be certain starters in a composite side. And so, after two decades of unflattering evaluations against the example United represented, Liverpool should savour the sight of the boot being transferred to the other foot. Because, even when Liverpool did much right, they could still be damned by comparison with United. The Merseysiders had a fine group of young British talents in the mid-1990s. The Mancunians had Fergie’s Fledglings: Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers. Now Liverpool have the poster boys for the policy of giving youth its head: Henderson, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, Jon Flanagan & Co. mean United’s Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are cast in the role Roy Evans’ Spice Boys occupied in the last millennium. Now, too, Anfield has supplanted Old Trafford as the toughest of England’s historic grounds to visit. United’s has lost its aura, just as Liverpool’s has become an intimidating destination again. Only Southampton and Aston Villa have departed with as much as a point -- many others, like some of United’s victims in bygone years, were blown away in a 20- or 30-minute blitz -- whereas, last season, only three visitors had something to show for a trip to Old Trafford. Meanwhile, the Theatre of Dreams has become the arena of underachievement in a way that Liverpool may find all too familiar. There was no such thing as a routine home win for Liverpool in the 2011-12 season, which came during a spell of 24 league games at Anfield that yielded a mere six Reds victories. Opponents arrived equipped with the confidence they could get a result; many duly did. For Liverpool’s 2012 defeats to Wigan, West Brom and Fulham, read United’s home losses to Swansea, West Brom and Newcastle this season. If season-ticket holders felt shortchanged, it was unsurprising: Liverpool scored only 24 home league goals in 2011-12. United, with a mere 18 so far, are currently a little more prolific per game. Two years ago, Stoke had a better home record than Liverpool; now their form on their own turf is superior to United’s. Many in the United support, like their Liverpool counterparts in 2012, are remaining publicly supportive of a careworn Glaswegian manager, no matter how many doubts they privately harbour. Echoing Kenny Dalglish, David Moyes struggles with the reality of managing a club that is the focus of global attention. Now Liverpool’s combination of easy, emphatic and exciting victories is reminiscent of United’s past title charges. In particular, the 3-2 triumph at Fulham, when they trailed with 20 minutes remaining and scored an injury-time winner through Gerrard, had the hallmark of a Ferguson comeback. The 4-3 win over Swansea was comparable, too, to United’s win by the same score line against Newcastle last season. In neither case did dreadful defending ultimately matter. Indeed, Liverpool’s error-prone, unconvincing back four may be the kindred spirits of United’s midfield in Ferguson’s final season. It was evident many of them were not good enough, but as long as results were forthcoming, criticism had to be mitigated. Now, as United find victories more elusive, fault is found, as it long was at Liverpool, with the transfer dealings. Ferguson had expensive signings who underachieved -- most notably Juan Sebastian Veron and Dimitar Berbatov -- but he won league titles during their ill-fated stays at Old Trafford. In that respect, Marouane Fellaini is the spiritual successor of men such as Alberto Aquilani and Andy Carroll, players in whom Liverpool invested their hopes and considerable sums of money. They could not afford them to fail, but fail they did. Even United’s recruitment of Juan Mata, where solving one problem entails creating another, feels reminiscent of Liverpool’s past difficulties. Mata wants Wayne Rooney’s role, just as Robbie Keane preferred to play in Gerrard’s position. Liverpool looked back in frustration at the players they could have signed when Gerard Houllier bought El-Hadji Diouf, Bruno Cheyrou and Salif Diao in 2002; so, too, do many United supporters after last summer’s farcical failure in the transfer market. Over the past few years, extensive overhauls almost became annual events at Anfield. Now, inverting Ferguson’s theory, it may be United that require eight signings to become a title-winning team, especially if some of their premier players follow Nemanja Vidic out the exit door this summer. It illustrates the way Liverpool suddenly seem in the ascendant. One of the peculiarities of the rivalry between the dominant club of the past 20 years and the greatest force of the previous two decades is that, while they can be evenly matched over 90 minutes, they rarely are over the course of a season. Perhaps not since 1965, when United won the league and Liverpool the FA Cup (far more prestigious then than it is now), have they both been at the same level and equally successful. And so September’s 1-0 win for Liverpool, both Moyes’ first defeat and, a year into his reign, Rodgers’ first truly momentous win, assumes huge proportions. Perhaps this is only a temporary phenomenon, but perhaps, if United’s slump and Liverpool’s surge continue, it will be deemed the day the baton was returned from Manchester to Merseyside. Ferguson once said his greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool off their perch; Jamie Carragher argued that they had already been toppled by Graeme Souness, in his disastrous reign at Anfield. That is United and Liverpool, forever trying to win the argument. Perhaps one day Rodgers will be credited for displacing United from their perch of pre-eminence. Perhaps Moyes will be blamed for dislodging them.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 21:18:27 +0000
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