He could do nothing about Roberto Firmino\u2019s shot seventeen minutes from time, however, and the 2-0 scoreline flattered Manchester United in the extreme. It\u2019s a different side that will be arriving at Anfield on Monday night with a different, more defensively-minded manager in the dugout. The high press we witnessed in March was the reason for the Reds\u2019 win, though, so we have to hope that they\u2019ll struggle to cope now just as much as they did seven months ago.<\/p>\n
To the victor go the spoils, as the saying goes. A retrospective look at the 1996 FA Cup final will tell you that Manchester United knew they were going to lift the trophy as soon as they saw the Liverpool team parading around the Wembley pitch in cream suits before kick-off. The decision to wear the outfits, given to them because of a relationship that David James had with Emporio Armani, was a poor one with hindsight. If the Reds had won the game, though, would it still be looked back on with such disdain?<\/p>\n
The story of the final nowadays is that the suits summed up Liverpool\u2019s approach to the match: Too busy trying to look cool and stylish to prepare for the game at hand. United, in contract, were studies in focus and concentration. The Red Devils then went out and battered us for 90 minutes, with the Reds lucky to make it off the pitch with just a 1-0 loss to our name.<\/p>\n
The wearing of the suits was the catalyst for the notion drummed up by the press that Liverpool\u2019s team were \u2018The Spice Boys\u2019; filled with party animals who liked to be seen out on the town having a drink. Jamie Redknapp was pilloried for being more interested in having sex with a pop star than winning things for his team. Of course it\u2019s now twenty years later and Jamie and Louise Nurding are still happily married, so perhaps we can put that idea to bed once and for all.<\/p>\n
catwalk \/ shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n
The game itself was actually rather boring. The two teams had tactical plans to cancel out each other\u2019s strengths, with Redknapp and John Barnes nullifying the threat of United\u2019s playmaker Eric Cantona and Nicky Butt and Roy Keane doing the same thing to Liverpool\u2019s Steve Mcmanaman. Though the match started at a fast pace it soon drizzled out and there was little for either goalkeeper to do.<\/p>\n
The winning goal is something modern-day Liverpool fans might be interested to hear about. It all came from a corner in the 85th minute. David James attempted to punch the ball clear but failed, instead knocking it straight to the feet of Cantona just outside the area. The Frenchman hit a weak, speculative effort towards goal that somehow managed to avoid all players and nestle in the back of the net. Even twenty years ago, then, our goalkeepers didn\u2019t know how to deal with crosses. Something worth bearing in mind on Monday when footballing \u2018genius\u2019 Jos\u00e9 Mourinho plays all of his tall players and resorts to going long for ninety minutes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to look back on matches such as this and dress them up however you want in hindsight. United players claim it was all down to the suits, but anyone who remembers the game knows that isn\u2019t true. It was an ill-judged decision but let\u2019s not pretend that the fate of the match was decided by it. The result was the toss of a coin and anyone who tells you otherwise is a flat-out liar.<\/p>\n
Manchester United 0 – Liverpool 3<\/h2>\n
A Liverpool team full of attacking swagger and confidence but let down by its defence believing that it can win the Premier League for the first time goes up against Manchester United. I could easily be writing about this weekend\u2019s fixture here, but I\u2019m not. Instead I\u2019m referring to our trip to Old Trafford back in 2014, when Brendan Rodgers\u2019 Reds destroyed David Moyes\u2019 team in their home ground.<\/p>\n
Twelve months before, in Alex Ferguson\u2019s final season in charge of United, the Red Devils were twenty-nine points clear of Liverpool. Thankfully the Scot retired and his final wish was to appoint the Everton boss as manager. Confirmation, as far as I was concerned, that he has always cared more about his own reputation than he has about the success of Manchester United.<\/p>\n
almonfoto \/ shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n
The game in 2014 was seen as a genuine test of our title-winning credentials, much as Monday night\u2019s game is likely to be. This time, sadly, we\u2019re not up against the shambolic Moyes side that we beat so comfortably back then. Much like in the Europa League tie last season, the scoreline flattered United. We were much the better team, carving them open time after time on our way to a resounding win.<\/p>\n
Rodgers\u2019 Reds had seven shots on target to United\u2019s one, again forcing a Man Of The Match performance out of David de Gea. He couldn\u2019t stop Steven Gerrard\u2019s penalty after 34 minutes, though, nor could he stop his next one after the interval. The captain actually missed a third, in what some suggested was an attempt to ensure Moyes kept his job. As with most things that season it was Luis Suarez who had the final word, beating de Gea with just over five minutes of normal time remaining to complete the rout.<\/p>\n
In 2014, as with 2009, our victory over United proved to be worthless in the end. Could this be the year that we do the double over our old enemies and finally claim the ultimate prize? It remains to be seen, of course, but we have to feel that we\u2019re the better team on form heading into Monday night. Now to make it count\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Though the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham fans might disagree, the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United is one of the oldest and most bitter in world football. The hatred the two sets of fans feel towards each other goes a lot deeper than just through sport, with prior economic and trade disagreements lighting a fire that football merely fanned the flames of. On Monday Manchester United head to Anfield at a time when it feels like the two clubs could be swapping positions once more. In the 1970s and 1980s Liverpool were the dominant force in English football. Through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions\/690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}