Liverpool have been streets ahead of Manchester United throughout much of Jurgen Klopp’s reign at Anfield.
The Reds haven’t always finished ahead of their arch-rivals from Manchester, but they’ve constantly been the better run of the two clubs.
For example, in the almost nine years Klopp has spent with Liverpool, Man United have ran through five different managers. While the Reds’ transfers have mostly been hits, United have dealt largely in misses.
The current managerial incumbent at Old Trafford is Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman has had some good times at United so far, but has also looked woefully out of his depth at times. In our opinion, Ten Hag simply doesn’t know how to handle the different personalities in his squad.
This became apparent once again last weekend. After drawing 2-2 with Bournemouth, it emerged that 19-year-old Alejandro Garnacho had been ‘liking’ posts on social media that blasted Ten Hag for taking him off at half-time. Not a good look.
Gabriel Agbonlahor makes Jurgen Klopp point
As Liverpool fans, it can be amusing to see goings on like this at Old Trafford. And there has been plenty of fun to be had in the Ten Hag era.
In the past, we have been able to chuckle along safe in the knowledge that this wouldn’t happen any time soon with our manager.
But with Klopp set to leave the club, it’s now a stark reminder as to what we could be losing. TalkSPORT pundit Gabriel Agbonlahor is exactly right when he says that this kind of shenanigans wouldn’t happen under the German.
“The problem is, that would never happen at Liverpool,” says Agbonlahor, when asked about Garnacho’s indiscretion. “It would never happen at Villa, Arsenal, City. But at Manchester United some of the players don’t respect the manager.
“You’ve seen so many of the players act up. For him to like that Tweet, no one’s doing that. Like last night, an Arsenal player gets brought off or whatever. Impossible.
“Imagine Klopp! I think Klopp would chase you around the training ground. It’s not going to happen.”
Will things change under new Liverpool manager
Liverpool should have learnt a lot from United over the past few years. First of all, they should look at what the Manchester club did when replacing Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2013. Look, and do the exact opposite.
United have had some sporadic success in the 11 years since Ferguson left. But they’re one of the biggest clubs on the planet, that was always likely.
Aside from the spots of lesser trophy wins, United have been a shambles for most of that time period. It wasn’t just hiring David Moyes, it was allowing themselves to think they were too big to fail. Liverpool cannot make those same mistakes.
That all begins with the ensuring they get the right man to replace Klopp, of course. And although we’ll never find another Jurgen, it needs to be a manager who instils the same values into his first-team squad. I.e. not allowing the kind of silliness Garnacho has displayed. We can laugh for now, but we need to learn, too.