John Barnes believes that his former club Liverpool will beat Manchester United on Saturday unless Jose Mourinho adopts a defensive approach.
Liverpool have made an inconsistent start to the season but Barnes feels that the Reds’ attacking options are so impressive that they can prevail against any team that attempts to play an open game against them.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Barnes, who played for Liverpool between 1987 and 1997, said: “Why I think Liverpool will win this is because of what Liverpool have demonstrated against all of the top five teams, apart from Manchester City when they went down to ten men and lost 5-0.
“They have had the upper hand against all of the top five teams because of the nature of the way those games are played. They are very open, they are very attack-minded – whereby one team attacks and leaves the defence to defend for themselves.
“If you go head-to-head with Liverpool rather than sitting in deep and defending in numbers to stop Mane, Salah, Firmino, you come a cropper and that is what has happened to Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United.
“If they go all-out attack against Liverpool, which they are under pressure to because they are Man United and they are top of the league, then I think Liverpool will win.”
United manager Mourinho has often deployed defensive tactics in high-profile games and did so at Anfield last season with the fixture ending in a goalless draw.
With United having played some impressive attacking football so far this season, it appears rather unlikely that Mourinho will elect for his team to be totally defensive-minded on this occasion but they may be a little more restricted than in other games with regards to when they push forwards.
Liverpool go into the game in seventh place in the table, with United five places and seven points above them, with this fixture representing a major opportunity for Jurgen Klopp’s team to close the gap on their rivals.
COMMENTS