A 15th anniversary in the history of the Manchester United-Liverpool fixture passed largely unnoticed in midweek: United’s 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford.
There is another eerie anniversary for Liverpool to commemorate. Today marks a decade since they turned over United 3-0 on their own patch. Thirty-seven days later, David Moyes was summoned to the guillotine at Carrington early Tuesday morning.
Almost as infamous as United’s disjointed performance that sorry Sunday was Moyes’s pre-match proclamation that Liverpool, 11 points better off at kick-off, were the favourites.
“Their league position suggests they’re ahead of us. They possibly do come here favourites,” Moyes opined. Little has changed.
In the Old Trafford press conference room, a triumphant Brendan Rodgers scoffed at Moyes’s rhetoric: “I was probably surprised before the game when I heard we were supposedly coming to Old Trafford as favourites.
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“I would never say that at Liverpool – even if I was bottom of the league.”
“It’s a difficult one,” Erik ten Hag pondered on Friday. “I never think about who’s favourite, it starts on zero. Make sure we are ready and I don’t think about the opposition. I respect them, I respect every opposition. But it’s about making it our game, it’s about this. We know where the strengths are but also where the weaknesses are. It’s about our team, it’s about us.”
The 2009 loss was United’s heaviest at home since Dennis Bailey plundered a hat-trick for Queens Park Rangers on New Year’s Day in 1992. The atmosphere was so sulphurous Liverpool fans flung an inflatable aeroplane around the away end – a reference to the Munich air disaster – while a minority of United fans returned fire by chanting about Hillsborough.
United were still at the Premier League summit and, despite another wobble at Fulham a week later, saw off the challenge of Liverpool to tie with their nemesis on 19 championships. Sir Alex Ferguson later dismissed the 4-1 as an aberration. Nemanja Vidic, collector of three red cards against Liverpool, was expelled at 2-1 before Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena applied some gloss.
2014 was genuinely chastening. United attempted to defuse the tense mood around the club by interviewing Robin van Persie for the matchday programme, with the quotes released three days before the game.
The intention was for Van Persie to douse speculation over his future: “I’m happy with my teammates and I’m happy with my manager.” Van Persie had a heated run-in with Moyes at Manchester Airport. His sullen body language against Liverpool betrayed his comments.
The defeatist Moyes admitted “top four is a long way off” for a club that had been in the Champions League for 18 successive seasons under the previous Scottish manager. Nobody at Old Trafford that day could have imagined it would ever get worse. Seven-and-a-half years later, Liverpool recorded only the third 5-0 in the fixture’s history.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the Cardiff City manager at the time, was in the directors’ box and his allegiance was still visible. He vacated his seat before Steven Gerrard stepped up to take his third penalty to claim the match ball. Gerrard struck the post.
Diego Maradona took his seat 43 minutes late yet still turned up quicker than the United players. Maradona applauded Gerrard’s nerve after his second spotkick conversion. Kenny Dalglish was more partisan and berated by a Mancunian sat a few rows in front of him.
Ferguson, flanked by his friend Charlie Stillitano, sat silently, seething. United had finished 28 points ahead of Liverpool ten months earlier.
United supporters defiantly celebrated their 20 titles as the away following taunted them with chants of “We’re going to win the league.” The most damning ditty from that section was “David Moyes, football genius.”
The game was up for Jose Mourinho when the Kop hollered his name. And for Solskjaer when Liverpool, Leeds and City fans crowed “Ole’s at the wheel”. Liverpool have helped usher four United managers out of the door in the past decade.
Louis van Gaal oversaw a surrender at Anfield in the Europa League which led one senior United player to question Morgan Schneiderlin’s understanding of the club and, specifically, the rivalry with Liverpool. Even Ralf Rangnick had to watch through his fingers at Anfield, a graveyard for modern United managers.
The United hierarchy started to turn against Moyes two-and-a-half weeks before the Liverpool loss. His card was marked by the pitiful 2-0 Champions League defeat to Olympiakos. ‘Olympiakos moment’ has since entered the United lexicon. Van Gaal’s was Midtjylland, Mourinho’s West Ham and Solskjaer’s Liverpool.
As much as Liverpool revelled in their victory under Rodgers, the roles were reversed nine months later. A David de Gea-inspired United clinically won 3-0 at Old Trafford under Van Gaal and Gerrard was subjected to a more public humiliation than Christian Horner.
“Steve Gerrard, Gerrard,
“He slipped on his f—–g a–e,
“And gave it to Demba Ba,
“Steve Gerrard, Gerrard…”
The solace for United fans in their sorry season under Moyes was Gerrard literally let it slip.
It is a different competition on Sunday but there is as much riding on the FA Cup quarter-final for the incumbent United manager. Especially as Liverpool represent Ten Hag’s loftiest high and lowest ebb at United.
His first victory came against a Liverpool domestically undefeated in 2022. Yet United’s gradual decline began with their 7-0 annihilation at Anfield, a result that warranted its own DVD release in the Anfield shop.
United lost six of their 41 fixtures under Ten Hag before their coach pulled into Anfield last March. They have lost 22 of their 60 games since.
Champions City did the double over United, who also lost at leaders Arsenal. Ten Hag is still convinced their performance level against England’s elite offers encouragement. “In such games, we always achieve very good performances. We had our setbacks, we had our lows, definitely. But I don’t think in any high-rated game we had our lows.
“We were always on top form and I am convinced we will be on Sunday as well.”
Liverpool have been beaten in only two domestic games all season. They would argue the Video Assistant Referee beat them as much as Tottenham, the scene of Luis Diaz’s erroneous offside. United had lost three times by mid-September.
Ten Hag at least declined to dub Liverpool the favourites.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
