Liverpool v Manchester United: Will Jose Mourinho spoil Jurgen Klopp’s Anfield anniversary party?

EARLY TACKLE: Can Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp lay down a title marker against Man United on the German’s anniversary, or will Jose Mourinho spoil the party?

Jurgen Klopp has, in the space of a year, forged a Liverpool team in his own image.

It is a measure of just how off the charts dysfunctional the England national football set up is that a return this weekend to the noise and bombast of the Premier League after the international break represents a welcome sanctuary of something approaching sporting sanity.

The fallout from Sam Allardyce’s fleeting liaison with the job he craved for a decade ending over some, to use the parlance of the time, ‘locker room talk’ about circumventing rules, the failings of his predecessor and picking up an easy payday in the Far East, will be forgotten — for a time — over a weekend of fixtures so stacked that a meeting between the last two Premier League champions doesn’t come close to top billing.

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All eyes will mostly keenly be trained, instead, on Anfield on Tuesday morning, when a fixture that rarely needs much in the way of added fuel nonetheless presents an intriguing subplot in the dugouts.

It almost a year to the day since Jurgen Klopp brought his high energy brand of positivity and ‘heavy metal football’ philosophy to the Premier League and, on the evidence of the season so far, his alchemy is working.

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A careless defeat to Burnley and a first half of impoverished football against Swansea aside, Liverpool have been a study in vim and vigour this term, the personality of their jumpy, animated manager writ large across their hard running pressing game that has brought two wins and a draw from three away trips to Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham.

A suspect defence, especially when dealing with dead ball situations, may eventually prove their undoing across an entire season, but they are the joint top scorers and at times a joy to watch and can reasonably assert having a meaningful role to play in the destination of the title.

Klopp is a leading figure in an evolution of the sport that has taken hold at the top end of European football, a visible proponent of a game based on pace and the closing down of space, a believer in the value of quick transition and front foot urgency over possession-based sideways football.

Klopp’s effervescence and charisma has had an immediate impact in England.

His opposite number this weekend, Jose Mourinho, knows how it feels to be hailed as an agent of change, to be the bright young thing tearing up the league. When he first arrived in England and proclaimed himself the ‘Special One’, he did so with authority. He was the upstart that others had to deal with.

A decade on there is a suspicion that the game may have left him behind. No one doubts his ability to build teams but the certainty that exudes from the ever smiling Klopp is no longer evident in the Portuguese. Struggling to find his feet at Old Trafford, despite an expansive and expensive recruitment drive, this match presents a major staging post in his new home.

Victory would get restless fans back on side and spread optimism that progress is being made; defeat only exacerbate the funk that has settled on United following a series of disjointed performances.

How the two men will approach the game will be fascinating to see. Liverpool have been exceptional against the better sides under Klopp’s reign. And there is a sense that he is able to raise his players for such momentous challenges more easily than more prosaic endeavours.

That is tempered by the fact that most of the eye opening victories have come away from home, his preference for counter attacking more suited to the road. There will be an onus on Liverpool to take the game to United this weekend in front of their own fans, which might not be to their advantage.

Mourinho took over at Old Trafford promising to change perceptions of him as a negative coach, to honour United’s attacking tradition. The jury is still out on that, and it would be little surprise to see him return to type for this one and set out primarily not to lose; to frustrate Klopp and the Kop — as his Chelsea side did so emphatically and, in terms of the title race, tellingly when Liverpool last threatened to break their title drought — and rely on the individual talents he can call on to produce something special to nick the win.

Mourinho must also — again — answer the Wayne Rooney dilemma that has been a constant in English football both domestically and on the international stage for the last two months or so.

The out of form Rooney has endured a miserable few weeks after being dropped by United and England. The 30-year-old’s troubles have led to a debate about whether he should be used in midfield instead of his long-time role as a striker, or if he is even worth a place in either side he is eligible for and has served so well in the past.

Mourinho has yet to hit his traps in the Old Trafford hot seat.

After crushing Leicester in their first match without Rooney, United were less impressive in a home draw against Stoke — despite dominating the ball and creating more chances than their opponents — and Mourinho might be tempted to bring him back at Anfield, if for no other reason that to wind up the crowd.

Rooney, a Scouser who has the best scoring record in this fixture in the Premier League era, for all his recent struggles cannot be discounted to make an impact, either from the start or from the bench.

Liverpool have lost the last four league meetings between the sides but in such buoyant mood will fancy themselves capable of arresting that unwanted record. Should they do so, the whispers of a first title coming to Anfield for more than a quarter of a century may grow in volume.

THIS WEEKEND’S PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES:

Saturday

Chelsea v Leicester (22.30)

Sunday

Arsenal v Swansea, Bournemouth v Hull, West Brom v Tottenham, Manchester City v Everton, Stoke v Sunderland (01.00)

Crystal Palace v West Ham (3.30)

Middlesbrough v Watford (23.30)

Monday

Southampton v Burnley (02.00)

Tuesday

Liverpool v Manchester United (06.00)

Originally published as Liverpool v Manchester United: Will Jose Mourinho spoil Jurgen Klopp’s Anfield anniversary party?