01 Sep 2014 17:39:15
Liverpool fan in peace!

I would love to know what Man United fans think of your squad now?

For years I have looked at the United squad and been quietly jealous of the strength you had throughout the team!

Now however I look at our squad against yours and I think it is the first time I can honestly, hand on heart, say that I think Liverpool have the better squad.

I look at United and think that you are incredibly top heavy, whilst having some amazing attacking talent (especially if Falcao is completed today) your central midfield and defence to me looks very ropey. Which is ironic, because that's how Liverpool have been for years!

Anyway, hopefully this can be a bit of a light hearted discussion.

Cheers all

1.) 01 Sep 2014
I'd like to help you out but I have no idea which way you came in.

2.) 01 Sep 2014
Your assessment of our squad is pretty accurate although I'd still prefer our squad to yours.

Our attacking options are considerably better and there are only two Liverpool players who would improve our starting 11 (Sakho and Henderson/Gerrard). Possibly Sterling too if we were going to play with wingers.

Conversely; Rooney, Mata, Di Maria, RVP, Falcao, De Gea and Rafael would improve Liverpool whilst players like Shaw, Rojo, Herrera and Januzaj are at least as good as the likes of Moreno, Lovren, Allen and Lallana.

3.) 01 Sep 2014
I hear you and totally agree. We have a great striker force, an unbalanced midfield and a shallow defence. We need a Yaya Toure kind of midfielder, a Roy Keane back in defence and a Sol Campbell back there. Our back is easily exposed and jittery on set pieces.

While all that is said, once we have Rojo, Herera, Blind, Di Maria and Mata clicking, we will be a nasty mean attacking team with very creative players in all sections of the field. It will also mean our bench is rich and deep and that is something we have not had for the past 3yrs. Cleverly, Anderson, Nani, Young are all not United Calibre, they were a drag. Smalling is coming up but goodness he is not what we need to win the league with what all the top 4 done with their teams and benches

4.) 01 Sep 2014
There is a squad that's happy playing with confidence and a squad struggling with confidence. Man for man we have a far better squad, but when you cannot gel or string two passes together, then having better players is irrelevant. Football is a team game and Liverpool are an excellent team. We have better individuals, but we are poor as a team. That will change with time. but no doubt you are the better team.

When you are playing well and winning your players look great, when it goes pear-shaped the same player look poor. That's football.

5.) 01 Sep 2014
01 Sep 2014 18:01:52
Yeah I know what you mean. I'd swap RvP, Falcao, Rooney, Di Maria, Herrera, Januzaj, Blind, Rojo and Shaw for Lambert, Lallana, Ballotelli. Errr no, no I probably wouldn't.

6.) 01 Sep 2014
Couldnt agree more, nice to see a liverpool fan looking to hold a sensible discussion about football matters rather than winding up, agree with your summary, were very top heavy, we have wealth of talent in attacking areas although our wide men are abysmal other than januzaj, were desperate for a midfield general to allow the matas of this world to flourish, get a leader in at the back to babysit these defenders we've had for years and should either be ready to stand up and show there worth or shipped out and we have a title challenging squad. letting vidic go is a school boy error.

7.) 01 Sep 2014
01 Sep 2014 18:07:52
In a joint starting 11 I think our keeper 1 CB jones LB(shaw) di maria rvp falcao would all start sterling lovern henderson and either allen or gerard would start the team would have to play with 10 men as neither side have a top right back. the bench would be liverpool heavy

8.) 01 Sep 2014
Really nice to see a couple of people being able to hold a sensible conversation.

It's worth pointing out that I never said that United didn't have top players, or that individually they had some better players, I said that I thought Liverpool's SQUAD was better.

There are many things that make that up, youth, experience, the way the players work together, the way they buy into the philosophy, the ability to play multiple systems and the ability to bounce back from set backs.

United obviously have some amazing individual players, my comment was purely that the squad, whilst talented, seems unbalanced, much like Liverpool's did for many years.

9.) 01 Sep 2014
Wait till we put a full team out there and then we can discuss teams and squads. No comparison in my mind mate. Only 352 holding us back. 4231 or 433 and we will be off to the races.

The media is quite fickle and a couple of games smashing teams they will all suddenly rave about how good and unplayable we are.

10.) 01 Sep 2014
RedDawn - I'd say the key element in squad strength is the quality of the players. Of course things like confidence and cohesion are important - but these are things that will come with time. Our confidence will grow as results start to go our way and chemistry will grow as the players get used to each other; but players like Rickie Lambert, Squirtle, Mignolet, Johnson, Toure, Lucas, Allen and Borini aren't suddenly going to become great players.

Liverpool have a squad of decent players whilst Manchester United have a squad with some genuine world class players. You've said on multiple occasions that our squad is unbalanced and implied that yours is well rounded - and whilst I agree with you that we're top-heavy - I think that your defense is as weak as ours and will prove just as leaky over the course of 38 games.

The only area of the pitch where you have us beat for squad depth is in central midfield (it's worth remembering that if Hendo and Gerrard were to pick up injuries you'd be left with Lucas and Allen who aren't any better than what we have). The other 9 spots we have you matched or bettered and our back-up players are no worse than yours.

11.) 01 Sep 2014
Reddawn. Actually while I disagree about your assessment as individuals. We have the superior individuals by far. But BR has got Liverpool playing as a team, while we're still searching for that, injuries and a load of new faces, have not helped.
But if and when lvg gets this team playing as he wants them, I think we're going to be a handful for anyone.

12.) 01 Sep 2014
Lallana who got in a lot of teams of the year playing in an 8th place team isn't (currently) better than Januzaj?

In what situation will Falcao, Rooney, RVP, Mata and Di Maria all play together. Will it be a Moyes late game scramble again?

Sturridge - top English scorer. Sterling - scored 9 and assisted 5 at the age of 19! Coutinho blows hot and cold, but is still only 22. Same with Balotelli. The average age of the back four against Spurs was 22.75. Henderson is fast becoming a world class talent. Allen is still only 24 and is a great squad player.

You shouldn't be so quick to brush off the majority of a strengthened squad that finished 20 points above you last season and still outscored you without Suarez's goals (which would mean playing with 10 men).

Did the dominance of Germany show nothing at the World Cup, along with the successes of drilled squads such as USA, Costa Rica, Chile, Columbia.

I'm not trying to say your team doesn't have good players, but just defended Liverpool.