McManaman claims lack of local lads playing ‘sad’

CHANCES are there will be only one Scouser on the pitch when the teams kick off at Old Trafford today. And he won’t be playing for Liverpool. Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney will most likely be the sole son of Merseyside on the pitch. Worse still, there won’t be a solitary Mancunian in Louis van Gaal’s ranks – although Gary Neville might want just want to swap the Sky Sports gantry-antry for a place at right back ck to get one more crack k at his biggest foe. And unless Jordan Rossiter, who came on as a substitute against Arsenal, is given a dramatic place in the visitors’ starting XI, they won’t have a Liverpudlian play a part. ‘That is sad, really,’ ex-Anfield star Steve McManaman (above) feels. ‘There were times when there were Scousers and Mancunians everywhere. Unfortunately the two teams, you don’t want to say they have lost their identity but they have completely changed in these last couple of years. ‘A lot of people have lost contact with them all. It will be a strange game watching and seeing a lot of new faces and a lot of players who are in this first type of game like this. It will be interesting to see how they both react. ‘Normally the noise of the fans at these types of games normally generates the atmosphere, it is normally mad because the fans want it to be crazy straight away. Hopefully it won’t matter because there are no local lads on the pitch to a certain extent. ‘If you go and play in a Rangers-Celtic match, if I went there tomorrow you would know the intensity of the game and hopefully the players would know it is so important to win this game.’