Manchester United side will ‘park the bus’ against Liverpool because Jose Mourinho would be ‘delighted’ to leave Anfield with a draw, according to John Aldridge.
The Red Devils travel to Merseyside on Monday night with Jurgen Klopp’s side in great form.
The German’s navigated Liverpool into fourth after seven games played this season and the Reds are the division’s joint-top scorers with 18 goals so far this term.
United have looked well below their best in recent weeks and have tough games against Manchester City and Chelsea to follow their trip to Anfield.
With Liverpool in such fine form, Reds legend Aldridge believes Mourinho will set his side up defensively because he’s happy with a point.
‘Mourinho is a defensive manager and he will park the bus and then try to feed off our mistakes by hitting us on the break,’ Aldridge wrote in the Liverpool Echo.
“I’m sure he will also place a big emphasis on set-pieces because United are a big team physically and they know that’s been an area of weakness for us at times.
‘With the height of [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, [Marouane] Fellaini, [Paul] Pogba and [Eric] Bailly they do pose an aerial threat. Whoever starts in goal, he really needs to command his box and our back four need to be right on their game and ready for a battle.
‘The way Jurgen Klopp has got us playing means the fear factor is back for opponents. Teams are showing us the utmost respect – like we saw with how Chelsea approached the game against us at Stamford Bridge.
‘I expected United to get men behind the ball and try to slow the game down as much as possible. This is Mourinho’s first game as United boss against Liverpool and he won’t want to be beaten. He would be delighted with a point.’
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