Spectre of 20-20 vision for United...
Old Trafford stood still amid Liverpool’s burning intent
A TEDIOUS title race put on hiatus by a global pandemic, before restarting with matches behind closed doors and the title secured without playing, was just about the most palatable Liverpool championship triumph for United supporters to stomach.
The Premier League Years edition of 2019-20 will not be one of the most rewatchable. Scousers will never admit it, but the end of the wait was not as euphoric as it would have been had Steven Gerrard not let it slip in 2014, or if Liverpool were not as reluctant at Old Trafford in 2019. Those were pulsating title tussles with City.
Liverpool ooze perfection in almost every area of their XI. The American owners are not obtuse, they have a world-class coach, Alisson and Virgil van Dijk are without peer, the full-backs are the best club pair around and so is the attacking trident. It feels like a trick of the mind that Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood have outscored Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino by one.
Many United supporters will still be dumbfounded. United finished second in the Premier League in 2017-18, six points clear of Liverpool and only denied silver in another drab FA Cup final edged by Chelsea.
The executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward felt United’s trajectory was ‘good’ after rising from sixth in 2016-17. Yet in that seismic summer of 2018 second-placed United bought to finish in the top four and fourth-placed Liverpool bought to win the title. Questions still have to be asked how United let it slip.
Jurgen Klopp is not alien to hypocrisy. In 2016, he said of the world record Paul Pogba fee he ‘would even do it differently if I could spend that money. The day that this is football, I’m not in a job any more.’
Liverpool then shattered the world-record fee for a defender and goalkeeper by signing Van Dijk for £75m and Alisson for £66.8m in 2018.
Jose Mourinho smiled upon a reminder of Klopp’s comments that summer.
“The problem is you have to invest well and honestly I think they did very well because every player they bought are quality players and I’m happy for them.
“And I’m also happy to smile and to see that, you know, you can change your opinion and change as a person.”
What was not okay was that United’s spending in that window nosedived to £72.5m. In the timeline of summer spending since David Moyes was sacked, it resembles the Wall Street Crash: £151.5m, £106.5m, £145.3m, £140.9m, £72.5m.
Mourinho railed against apathy on that turbulent tour and was eventually summoned to Carrington a week before Christmas to terminate his contract. A senior United source described the spiral as ‘death by a thousand cuts.’
United stood still amid Liverpool’s intent and fell behind. United were AWOL when City were vying with Liverpool for the mighty Van Dijk, and Mane is one of the more unassuming ones that got away from United, keen on signing him in 2015.
Mane has developed into a world-class right winger, a snip at £25m and more important to Liverpool than anyone in their front six.
Hoffenheim actually fabricated United’s interest in Firmino in the same year, and in the year Liverpool signed Salah Mourinho reunited with Romelu Lukaku, another rookie he used sparingly at Chelsea.
Belatedly United have tried to address their complacency – and the level of spending under Solskjaer in his first summer and winter windows as permanent manager is unprecedented, with investments of up to £216m.
United have abandoned the marquee manager experiment and it remains to be seen whether Solskjaer can duke it out with Klopp and Pep Guardiola next season. Mauricio Pochettino is still lurking. The summer and winter of 2018 set United back at least 18 months and the first half of this campaign was often ominous.
They have made strides since January, with a secure defence developing, an enviable attack and a midfield that – as churlish as it seems to compare with a team so far ahead they resemble a mirage – is superior than Liverpool’s.
United’s immediate objective is to reel in Leicester rather than Liverpool but they cannot idly accept the economic side-effects of the pandemic when the next window opens like they did two years ago.
Otherwise it might be 20-20.
The summer and winter of 2018 set United back about 18 months
Samuel Luckhurst