Liverpool – Manchester United: A Preview – A Tribute

“Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is what Luis Suarez chose to respond the last season around when Liverpool greeted Manchester United, with the incident of the now infamous handshake, but that storm seems to have passed now and both clubs intent to put the past behind them and looking to address the injustice 23 years back.

A tribute to the 96 lives lost in the Hillsborough tragedy will help both clubs in their public relations as well as acknowledging the value of human lives. A tribute to the families of the victims is the most befitting respect which they can show. On Sunday, Anfield will get an opportunity to actually prove the motto “You will never walk alone” and the club should do their bit to provide utmost support to the families of the victims in pursuing legal action.

On the pitch though, rivalries will be renewed, with both clubs looking to get the better of each other. While Manchester United is breathing down the neck of league leaders Chelsea, Liverpool is languishing at the bottom of the table. With so much of the philosophy of possession based football being emphasized by Brendan Rogers, its time he started delivering results. While the wily Ferguson continues to be tactically ahead of his younger peers, its time Brendan took a page or two out of his book and starts looking for wins rather than positives.

Most experts say the table doesn’t lie. While Liverpool for the past two games have faced problems in the full back position, Ferguson has again pulled a rabbit out of the hat by introducing Alex Buttner who was electric last weekend. It would be good for both sides if Alex Buttner starts, as the game will be focused more on the footballing aspect rather than the controversies which dominated the fixture last time around. Other than that, it would be interesting to see who Manchester United and Liverpool field with both teams being involved in European fixtures over the course of the week. While Manchester United eked out a win over a classy Galatasary, the real positive was the return of Darren Fletcher who has been out for the past ten months. Fletcher, as we know is one of the underrated big game players who is just easing back into the game after a 10 month layoff. Although the Liverpool game maybe just a tad bit early for him, his presence in the Manchester midfield gives them the bite and the freedom to Scholes to make those goal scoring passes and runs and a much more free hand to the creative players in the side.

Liverpool on the other hand will start to have looking at options other than Suarez for them to get them goals, while there were a slew of new goal scorers in the tie against Young Boys, Manchester United will be a much tougher proposition and their defending will be a notch or a couple of notches better. Liverpool would do well to remember that last time around when Van Persie played against them, he got two chances and he converted both of them. With such clinical finisher’s in the opposition, Liverpool will be keen to avoid their defensive frailties and after a woeful performance by Enrique, it seems Johnson will continue in left full back position. It will be interesting to see whether Shelvey starts in the mid-field after his second half performance where coming on as a substitute he scored two goals and keeps on getting better.

There is the tendency by Liverpool to play well in the big matches and this Sunday will be one of them and in light of the recent events it may just be the biggest. Liverpool supporters for a while now have been looking for the dawn where their team can again be feared in the same breath as the “Big Four”. Maybe a win on such an emotional day might just kick start Brendan Rogers’s campaign in the Premier League.The onus though will be on Liverpool to attack and a win can be the best tribute which the club can pay as respect to the families of the victims.