UNITED Importance of trophies not lost as bitter rivals visit United
IT beggared belief Jose Mourinho was asked if ‘trophies matter’ on the eve of the last LiverpoolUnited game in December. Mourinho was prone to offering withering replies and laughter would have been the best medicine for that query.
A punter recently suggested United’s Europa League triumph was ‘insignificant.’ They could not have been in Manchester city centre that week to visit the field of bouquets at St Ann’s Square.
United’s victory was uplifting for the city and completed the set. ‘We’ve won it all,’ as their raucous away followers sing.
United host Liverpool this weekend hours before City and Chelsea vie for the first major cup of the campaign and the topical question is ‘What is the bigger game?’ The League Cup should be valued more by the potless coaches – Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola have used it as a springboard for greater success.
Tottenham have two League Cups to show for their efforts in the last quarter of a century and the 2008 success was enriched by the 5-1 shellacking of Arsenal and final comeback against Chelsea.
Only five sides (Leicester, Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Swansea) have hoisted the three-handled trophy outside what is now known as The Big Six this century and eight finals have been contested between them. Sunday marks the ninth. Should City overcome Chelsea they will have retained a trophy for the first time in their 139-year history. Though it is a contradiction, United versus Liverpool is the bigger match.
It is an unrivalled enmity in English football with a febrile atmosphere intensified by geography, the Industrial Revolution, music and more.
There are potentially grave ramifications from Sunday’s meeting. It is Liverpool’s game in hand on City and the prospect of them ending a 29-year championship drought is the ultimate doomsday scenario for United supporters.
There are uncomfortable parallels for United with the fixture five years ago, when they were also-rans and Liverpool emerged as credible challengers. David Moyes dubbed Liverpool favourites for the game, Steven Gerrard had three penalties, Nemanja Vidic was sent off and United were walloped 3-0. United do not have a manager as defeatist now. Solskjaer made some Scousers cry before Diego Forlan with his FA Cup fourth round winner in 1999 and if he were to inflict another gut-wrenching defeat the bookmakers might as well pack up their chalkboards listing the next United manager odds – and replace them with the Chelsea manager odds.
A League Cup would signal a stay of execution but also a first honour after 28 years of management for the former banker.
Trophies matter. Samuel Luckhurst