Date: 15th July 2011 at 2:01am
Written by:
United celebrate

United in a typical pose

Could fate really be such a cruel mistress as to allow United to finally overtake Liverpool in the number of titles won, only to see them catch up a mere season later?

“Surely not!” I hear you cry almost incredulously in unison, yet as I’ve learnt over the years as a United fan, its more often complacency that leads to our defeats, rather than lack of ability.

In ’92 we were sure to beat Forest at home and West Ham away, in 1995 Blackburn werent good enough 1998, Arsenal would never catch us- just ask Fred Done, in 2003 we’d put Arsenal back in their place and didn’t need to worry about them again, Roman’s billions? Pah! Nothing to fear there.
You get my point. It’s been too easy over the years to dismiss any sort of threat to United, with the disdain many of us believe they deserve, but let’s face some ‘facts’ as a certain Spanish waiter once said, United don’t always have things our way, despite what we may sing.

This pre-season has almost been a gift from baby Jesus, United have bought three top class young players while our rivals have done very little and in some cases gone backwards. With Chelsea’s best midfielder out for several months- sorry but it is a massive boost for us as much as it is a loss for them, Arsenal struggling to keep hold of their players when they also need to buy a goalkeeper, striker, defender and a midfielder it’s easy to feel somewhat overjoyed at how the Summer has begun. Then there’s our noisy neighbours facing the potential loss of a certain Argentinian, who somehow hasn’t turned out to be as loyal as they thought, ooh the irony.

Only one team seems to be bothering to try and assemble the sort of squad that can really challenge United next season and unfortunately it happens to be our less educated friends from down the M62.
Liverpool have picked up where they left off in the January transfer window by spending big. They were fortunate in January in the fact that Chelsea were willing to pay over the odds for a player who looks like he’d rather spend an evening having his nails pulled out than he would playing football.

This Summer though, Liverpool have dipped into their own pockets – yeah, I know “instead of the nearest bin”- to spend money on the likes of Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing.
Henderson I’m not a big fan of to be perfectly honest and this isn’t my Mancunian tinted spectacles working overtime, I’ve said ever since we were linked to him, I felt he was a poor man’s Michael Carrick. Adam is a player I did admire last season though, I even wrote a post advocating a United bid for him as I genuinely felt we could use his dead ball ability – not just from free kicks and penalties but corners which have been a problem for us for some time now.
Given the choice of Downing or Ashley Young, I’d pick Young but that doesn’t mean Downing is a complete waste of space, in fact he may well rise to the occasion at a bigger club.

The point is Liverpool have three players who have shown they can perform in the Premier League to a high standard- albeit rarely in the case of Henderson, while all United’s other rivals have done very little.
More importantly Kenny Daglish seems to have some form of plan for getting players who could benefit Andy Carroll the most. Carroll’s aerial threat will be utilised nicely by Adam and Downing, while Luis Suarez could feed off the knockdowns, not an all too terrible attack if we’re disgustingly honest.
Add to the mix the youngsters who were given a chance at the back end of last season and did a decent job, plus the experience of the barely comprehensible Jamie Carragher and title throwing Steven Gerrard, not to mention arguably the League’s best ‘keeper and you have the makings of a title challenging side.

It’s easy for me to rant about how Downing wouldn’t get in our side or Carroll will probably be in prison by the time the season starts but I’ve been equally as flippant about our threats in the past and sometimes been left with an omelette on my face.
Don’t forget in 1995 Jason Wilcox wasn’t good enough for our bench, in 2002 the Arsenal defence was past it, in 2010 Chelsea were no longer a threat.

It’s easy to dismiss Liverpool and would be very enjoyable but just for now I’ll err on the side of caution and say while I still believe it’s United’s title to lose, the new arrivals at Anfield plus the galvanising effect a certain Scottish manager has had on the club, shouldn’t be ignored just yet.

Am I worrying too much about a team that’ll struggle to make the top four? Is it City and Chelsea we should be focusing on? Will Liverpool ever win the title again?
Feel free to comment suggest and abuse below.

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52 responses to “Are Liverpool FC Already United’s Main Title Challengers?”

  1. Dude says:

    But I suspect, at home at least you will see a front 3 of Suarez, Carroll and Kuyt. The Mancs have first hand knowledge of what a great poacher Dirky is and without him having to stat wide He’ll bag a lot of goals this season. Our middle 3 will be Gerrard, Lucas and Adam with Gerrard bombing on to support the front 3. Kenny always has 4 players in a counter attack. Rafa only had 3 and Woy 1 !
    The defence is a bit of a worry for me as we’re not strong in the air.

  2. MrDalglish says:

    Oh, we poorly educated-educated scousers! Typical display of hauteur from a well-educted Mancunian, although I can see where the idea of poorly educated scousers comes from when your hero and best player is indeed a poorly-educated scouser! Indeed, I’m sure it is a deliberate (and quite brilliant) act of irony to glorious comic-effect when you sing the song about that handsome young man Gary Neville hating scousers followed by a rendition of “Rooney-Rooney!” – bravo!

    To the rest of the article, I must give you credit that you recognise that the right players in the right team can have as much impact, or more even, than a good player in the wrong team (see Forlan, Veron and of course Mr Torres over at Chelsea). We shall see in May if those poorly-educated scousers have managed to acheive the ‘right team’.

  3. Casey13 says:

    Interesting and well thought out comments from a ManU fan, although I never though Mancunian’s terribly educated. Chanting Fergie and stamping your feet does not a degree make.

    Regardless, with Fergie (who sold his soul to Satan) pulling the strings you can never count out ManU. As Gollum would say, “I hates them!” Yet, grudging respect must be given. I like their signings and if Mr. Hair Plugs can return to consistent form they will be tough. Arsenal looks ready to implode. The Tots are going to have problems, especially if a disgruntled Modric stays. Chelsea – aging players, new coach, lot’s of pressure from Roman. Man C – can the team made of Mercs get it together to be consistant?

    Kenny certainly seems to have a plan and you can see he is trying to form a real TEAM. One that can pass and move and not quit. Will it be successful? We’ll see, but a run at the title may be a stretch this year, but a Top-4 finish looks very possible. I’d like nothing better than to see ‘Pool and ManU back slugging it out every year while the billionaire play toys wank each other.

  4. Delphia Silvis says:

    Well Mickey… now this is what I don’t understand, apparently tottskum want him to take less money than he’s on with us.. now all of this is pure paper/net speculation.. so WHY go to them????? I’m at a loss…

  5. thecoys says:

    for starters man utd are not champions and wont be again until they strenghthen their squad,city are the new barca and will always be the team to beat now,they proved that last year with two easy wins against utd,so for you to say that loserpool are your main rivals is premature & ignorant.secondly loserpool are crap were last year will be again this year,gerrard,bellamy,and carragher are over the hill,skirtel looks like hes leaving,so might suarez,carroll is useless,and downing and henderson are overrated,my top 4 city-1st,chelsea-2nd,utd-3rd,spurs-4th,goners-5th,newcastle-6th,loserpool-7th