Man United v Liverpool: One big game, five big questions

Rarely have the stakes been higher in a North-West Derby. Victory for Liverpool would put them top of the Premier League and, having beaten their rivals in their final tricky away tie of the season, would make them clear favourites to lift the title.

But a win for Manchester United would deal a huge body blow to a club carrying scars of previous disappointments, handing Manchester City crucial momentum for the final stretch. It would also surely mean Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is given the manager’s job full-time as they pull four points clear of Chelsea.

All that narrative tension could mean we get a hesitant chess match at Old Trafford, but a closer examination of the line-ups and tactical methods of the two coaches suggests we might just be in for a classic.

Here are five tactical talking points ahead of Manchester United v Liverpool. And sure, Chelsea v Manchester City is a bigger game as it’s a cup final, but we asked five questions of them not long ago. Maybe read them again or something?

1) Will the high stakes produce a cagey game, or will Solskjaer go for broke?

There are two ways this match could go and it all depends on Solskjaer’s tactical approach. Liverpool will undoubtedly line up in a 4-3-3 and show the same positional caution that has defined their performances in big games this season, such as the 0-0 draw with Bayern Munich on Tuesday. But Man Utd are more difficult to predict; if Solskjaer similarly holds back then we’ll see a claustrophobic, low-scoring game – but he really ought to go all out for a win.

United will probably line up in the 4-3-1-2 formation used at Stamford Bridge with Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford up front, which means their counter-attacking threat is significant. That means Liverpool should dominate the ball, gradually committing more bodies forward, and as United break with speed the game could become stretched. If Solskjaer wants the permanent job then he needs to show he can perform – and entertain – in big home matches like this one; a hesitant 1-0 defeat wouldn’t do him any favours, whereas a rampaging 3-2 loss would continue the sense of goodwill as the board near a final decision.

2) Can Lukaku and Rashford find joy behind the Liverpool full-backs?

Solskjaer’s 4-3-1-2 is the ideal system to hurt Liverpool. Packing the midfield with bodies should limit the influence of Roberto Firmino and thus slow the visitors down (more on that later), while United’s shape should allow them to break quickly into the spaces behind the full-backs. Without Anthony Martial or Jesse Lingard threatening from the wings, Klopp could make the mistake of allowing Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson to push forward – a tactic made all the more tempting by United’s own narrowness.

But to do so would allow Lukaku and Rashford to split, making runs on the outside of the two Liverpool full-backs for Juan Mata and Paul Pogba to launch through-balls into the channels. Mata is yet to take off under Solskjaer, although there were positive signs at Stamford Bridge. It was his neat interplay – twice – in the No 10 space that created room for Pogba to cross for Ander Herrera’s opener.

3) Will Klopp follow Tuchel’s lead and man-mark Pogba?

United were stumped by Thomas Tuchel’s decision to stick Marquinhos on Pogba throughout the 90 minutes of their Champions League tie last week, and the tactic could be replicated by others for the remainder of the campaign. Maurizio Sarri was never going to change his plans when they met United in the FA Cup, so essentially this is the first opportunity to find out whether Marquinhos’ man-marking job was a one off or the start of a continuing theme.

Instructing Jordan Henderson or Fabinho to follow Pogba around the pitch would heap pressure onto Mata to become the creator in the United midfield, and his diminutive stature makes the Spaniard an easy target for Liverpool’s press. Klopp ought to give it a try, but if he doesn’t then the key battle at Old Trafford will be Pogba versus Georginio Wijnaldum, arguably Liverpool’s best player this season. Occupying the same spaces in midfield, their tussle could make the difference should the game become stretched.

4) Can Salah expose the frailty of the Lindelof-Shaw partnership?

For all their swashbuckling attacking performances Man Utd still don’t look particularly solid at the back, and in particular on Mohamed Salah’s side. Solskjaer’s consistent use of Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw is emblematic of his tenure thus far far: prioritising good technicians over defensive steeliness.

Shaw is frequently caught a couple of yards out of position and flat-footed, while Lindelof struggles to cover his left-back, often darting wildly into challenges or stepping up at the wrong moment. Salah’s favourite channel of space is between left-back and left-sided centre-half, so if he is at his best on Sunday he should comfortably ghost past both players and through the United defence. The fact that Pogba is the left-most midfielder hardly helps United’s cause either.

5) Which Roberto Firmino will show up?

Firmino has had a surprisingly poor season by his own high standards, often disappearing for long periods of matches in which Liverpool hold the vast majority of possession. The Brazilian prefers to play on the half-turn, revelling in the give-and-gos that develop from Gegenpressing counters, and he hasn’t adapted well to the newly cautious, possession-centric Liverpool.

Firmino’s performance is perhaps the most important of all. Assuming we get a fairly open contest with counters and counter-counters, he should be able to play his natural game. A good display from Firmino and Liverpool will successfully punch holes in United’s three man midfield, building into the final third despite the hosts’ narrow formation. But another six-out-of-ten from the Brazilian and Liverpool may stutter, struggling to connect the midfield and forward lines as they did against Bayern, West Ham, and Leicester over the past month. It is no coincidence Firmino was quiet in all three.

Alex Keble is on Twitter