The biggest clash of the English season is here, well at least for the sake of history. Liverpool travel to the home of their bitter rivals Manchester United in the late kick-off on Saturday with both clubs looking to get back to winning ways after defeats in their last games. Manchester United were defeated by an effective Swansea side while Liverpool were humbled at home by West Ham United.
The loss against the Hammers heaped a lot of pressure on Reds manager Brendan Rodgers and he really needs to set his team out to at least avoid a defeat at the Theatre of Dreams. Liverpool will be without Philippe Coutinho who is suspended after picked up two yellow cards against West Ham.
Liverpool lost both the fixtures last season against Manchester United and we look at the five things Rodgers must do to get a positive result from this huge clash.
Drop Lovren
Something that Rodgers should have done last season, most Liverpool supporters have called for Dejan Lovren to be dropped and replace him with Mamadou Sakho. Lovren’s mistake might not have been the reason Liverpool lost the game against West Ham but playing him in the centre of defence doesn’t provide a lot of confidence to the team.
Play with two strikers
Liverpool have looked lightweight in attack this season, despite the signing of the Belgian striker, Christian Benteke. They do have a lot of options in their team with Ings and Origi, Ings has looked good with the few glimpses he has provided and starting him against United could be a good idea to get their season back on track.
Let the fullbacks provide the width
Liverpool need to provide a lot of crosses for Benteke to thrive but that has been lacking this season as Liverpool have preferred to play with Coutinho and to an extent Firmino, both players don’t really cross the ball all too often and Liverpool could play this game with a narrow team. The fullbacks should be given the freedom to cross the ball for Benteke and instead of playing Joe Gomez, who has impressed, they should go with Alberto Moreno down the left, as he has also looked good for the minutes he has been given.
Play with two holding midfielders
There was a lot of head scratching being done when Liverpool lined up with Lucas, Can and Milner against West Ham. The reason being that they were playing at home and should have had a more attack minded lineup rather than the defensive one from the outset, this time around they should play with two holding midfielders, Can and Milner should be the preferred choice in case Henderson misses out due to injury.
Add some urgency in their attack
Liverpool haven’t looked all that fluid in attack this season, apart from the first half against Arsenal, the Reds have struggled to get a proper attack going and this is a problem for Rodgers. Despite spending more than £50 million on the pair of Firmino and Benteke, the Reds need to start playing good attacking football and maybe getting the urgency back in the attack can lead to a better performance against United on Saturday.