Rivals' Views is back, and as it was promised in the Pre-season Edition, I have brought together opinions of the fans of Liverpool and Manchester United before their teams face-off in the massive English Premier League game tomorrow.
Rivals' Views features fans' opinions about their clubs, and their opponents ahead of the big games and also ahead of the season.
I caught up with a couple of fine writers from Bleacher Report, Barney Corkhill (who is now the Liverpool Community Leader) and Jeff Harbert (who is the Manchester United co-Community Leader) and asked them for their views on what is going to be yet another intriguing encounter between the two English giants.
1. How do you think your teams have done until now in the English Premier League?
Barney: The performances so far have been far from convincing, but then again, seven points from a possible nine isn't bad. I think the fact that we are joint top, and have hit nowhere near top gear yet is very encouraging for us. We will need to hit top gear soon though, preferably on Saturday!
Jeff: The season is still young obviously and United have actually played a game less than most clubs due to their involvement in the UEFA Super Cup last month. The opening match against Newcastle was a disappointment, especially considering it was at home. The three points against Pompey were vital, even if it wasn’t the most convincing performance. With Berbatov in the side now, however, United should be more than capable of finding the net.
2. How much of a bearing will the International break have on your players?
Barney: I don't think it will have too much of a bearing on our players, as few of the key players actually played internationally. The gap has given us a bit of time to re-group after the 0-0 draw against Villa and has also given Steven Gerrard and maybe even Fernando Torres enough time to recover.
Barney: Hopefully Torres isn't definitely out, but unless he is 100%, I don't think we should play him. Presuming Torres and Gerrard don't play, I expect Benitez to return to last season's tactics of two defensive midfielders (Mascherano, Alonso/Lucas) and one attacking midfielder (Alonso/Lucas), with two wingers (Babel and Kuyt) and a lone striker (Keane). Hopefully Keane will come good on Saturday and use the extra space there will be without Torres. Playing against Vidic and Ferdinand alone up front though is not easy!
Can we get anything out of the game on Saturday? Yes, we can. But will we? I'm not so sure. A draw with the injuries we have to Gerrard and Torres would be a good result.
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2 months ago
Great work guys. Great objective writing from everyone involved.
2 months ago
Great article guys, For me liverpool are going to have some very big problems this year without torres and gerrard they are very averige and dont shine. Many people talk about arsenal and how they dont have a big enothe squard but i think liverpool are in a worse state and selling vorinen and finnen capped it off. when you look at the players that could replace big names like torres you find ungog a player that should be in the championship.
My prodiction for the game is 95% manchester united win, i can even see it being 4-0 to united, Berbetov(2), rooney, Fletcher.
We will see....
2 months ago
Great Stuff Shyam...Great to see some humble, modest opinions on part of Jeff and Barney.
2 months ago
gerrard and torres are both gonna play. Common Liverpool.
2 months ago
Good article lads. Unfortunately Gerrard and Torres will be fit for Liverpool, but it's okay because we got Berbatov now to go with Rooney and Tevez, so I predict we will thrash Liverpool 4-0. Hat-trick for Berba hopefully.
2 months ago
Excellent article. Some good insight from both Jeff and Barney.
2 months ago
Good job Shyam.Should be a great game.
2 months ago
Great article. Looking forward to tomorrow's game, a fit Gerrard and Torres will definitely make it interesting.
2 months ago
Torres and Gerrard being available changes a lot I think, especially the way United will come out against Liverpool. Torres and Gerrard are two of Liverpool's most dangerous players so they'll need to be on their guard tomorrow.
2 months ago
Manchester United 2-1. Berbatov will net his first goal.
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