Will Liverpool & Man United Swap Places?

Posted on | July 8, 2014 | No Comments

Liverpool’s Premier League showing in 2013/14 was a remarkable improvement for a team who finished outside of the top 6 the previous year. Brendan Rogers’ signing of Danny Wellbeck was justified as he racked up an impressive 21 goals and 7 assists, and Luis Suarez lit up the league with 31 goals and a PFA Player of The Year award.

Was it not for an unfortunate slip by Steven Gerrard against Chelsea which led to a goal, and an incredible turnaround from Crystal Palace, who came from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 in May, then the title could’ve been heading to Liverpool. They finished second in the end, but the season was far from a failure, and Rogers has rightly received the credit he deserves for putting LFC back in Europe.

One important question, which seems to have been ignored, is just how much Liverpool owe to their lack of European football last time around for their domestic success. The group stages of the Champions League alone bring six games, and if you make it past there you can add another two. They also exited the FA Cup fairly early, and as such were able to focus on the Premier League fully, able to recover for a week before the next fixture.

Manchester United meanwhile, under the short tenure of David Moyes, were busy in Europe and busy on home soil working their way towards their worst premier league finish in years. But with Louis Van Gaal getting his summer spending started early, with successful bids for Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, United are a good bet to finish in the top four next season.

With the transfer window shaping up nicely the bookies are working out their favorites for the season, with Liverpool on 8/1 with betfair.com to finish in the top four, and United on 11/2to do the same.

Van Gaal won’t have to worry about the travel and fatigue which can deplete squads playing both domestically and abroad, and with a stronger team than the one Moyes left behind, he’ll be well placed to hit the ground running. Liverpool on the other hand will have the opposite; their success last season will mean they’re stretched by a run of European games in 2014/15, and unless they strengthen significantly they’ll find the going tough. The addition of Adam Lallana and Ricky Lambert certainly strengthens the team but if they can see through their rumored interest in yet another Southampton target, Dejan Lovren, he could prove a more telling addition given the team’s lack of defensive quality.

It will also be interesting to see how the latest Suarez drama plays out, should he stay at Anfield a Suarez ban would certainly add to the difficult of the challenge facing Rogers’ men and if he goes the Uruguayan will be a huge loss. All things considered Van Gaal’s Man Utd have an excellent chance of finishing above their fierce rivals once more.

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