It is Liverpool against Manchester United and a manager is on a historically bad run. Not Ruben Amorim, either, who has equalled his longest winning sequence in the Premier League as United head coach (admittedly, that is only one victory). But Arne Slot has suffered three successive defeats for the first time: in his managerial career, not merely in his reign on Merseyside.
They have been counterparts and opposites, the men in charge of England’s two biggest clubs, appointed within a few months of each other, when there was a scenario whereby Amorim could have got what is instead Slot’s job, after comparable records in their homeland.
Each took a club that was somewhat starved of success in the previous two decades and feeling very much the third force in their respective countries, to the title, along with making a greater impact in continental competition. It marked each out as a rising star, attracting Premier League attention.
And there, perhaps, the similarities end, their paths diverging. Slot has won the Premier League, just the second time in 35 years Liverpool ended the season top. Amorim has come 15th, United’s lowest finish for half a century.
Despite recent losses to Crystal Palace and Chelsea, Slot still averages 2.20 points per game in the division, more than double Amorim’s 1.09. The Dutchman took more points in his first 16 top-flight matches in England than the Portuguese has in his entire tenure.
But, of course, Slot had the far more enviable inheritance. That amounted to timing – he took charge in the summer, but with a couple of months’ notice before then, while Amorim was parachuted in mid-season – but also the squad and culture of the club. He has often credited Jurgen Klopp; Amorim thanks his predecessor Erik ten Hag less, and has less to thank him for.
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Amorim’s advocates – a diminishing band as the evidence amounts that, actually, he isn’t an outstanding manager – can wonder what he might have done at Anfield. And yet, while he was portrayed as the frontrunner after Klopp delivered the bombshell he would stand down, Liverpool long insisted that he was not, and that no one was until they alighted on Slot. What can be said, though, is that, even discounting Xabi Alonso, who soon made it apparent he preferred to stay at Bayer Leverkusen, Amorim was not even Liverpool’s second choice: after Slot, they also admired Athletic Bilbao’s Ernesto Valverde.
Liverpool were deterred in part by Amorim’s insistence upon a back three. United were not, but perhaps should have been. Slot proved the seamless successor, Amorim the newcomer who prescribed change but brought the wrong sort. They were evolutionary and revolutionary, but when last season ended, the innovative look was that United had half as many points as Liverpool.
Slot tweaked Klopp’s 4-3-3 into a 4-2-3-1, reimagined some players – using Luis Diaz as a striker at times, Cody Gakpo solely on the left and Ryan Gravenberch as a defensive midfielder – but, in another respect, made so few alterations to his squad that none of his signings had started a league match by the time that Liverpool became champions. Amorim used players in different positions, too, partly to cram them into his beloved 3-4-3, but with less vindication. If many of the existing squad progressed under Slot, too many regressed under Amorim.
But the summer offered another comparison. As they started to spend, much of their expenditure was in attack. Amorim spent £200m on three forwards, Slot £200m on two, with a further £100m on a No. 10 in Florian Wirtz. Of those six expensive additions, only Hugo Ekitike and Bryan Mbeumo could be described as a success so far. Matheus Cunha, Alexander Isak and Wirtz will all go to Anfield looking for a first league goal in their new club’s colours.
Liverpool have had more late winners and goals this season, but Amorim could argue United have shown more improvement in attack. Their xG is higher than Liverpool’s. They have had more shots in the Premier League. They have also gone out of the Carabao Cup to Grimsby and could be eight points behind Liverpool on Sunday evening.
Tactically, traditional rivals are pursuing different paths but with a shared conundrum. Each is searching for the appropriate balance between attack and defence. Liverpool have lost it this season, after their £450m spending spree. United have rarely had it under Amorim, which others – though not him – could attribute to 3-4-3, playing Bruno Fernandes in the centre of midfield and often using wing-backs who are really full-backs. A quirk of Amorim’s is that he can’t seem to get through a game without substituting one of his centre-backs. A quirk of Slot’s is that, when chasing a winner, he will take one off, move Gravenberch back while only playing with one specialist central defender, in Van Dijk.
A reason, perhaps, for Liverpool’s defensive troubles this season is that Slot has acquired two full-backs who may be more suited to playing wing-back. They might have suited Amorim better. Not that, given the six decades that have passed since Phil Chisnall was the last player to move directly between the two clubs, they can simply swap Jeremie Frimpong for Diogo Dalot.
But Sunday provides a test for each. Slot’s first flagship win as Liverpool manager was against United; but Ten Hag’s United, who he unlocked with conspicuous ease. Amorim has lost to many a manager in his troubled time at United, but not Slot: his side got a 2-2 draw at Anfield in January and, but for a late miss from Harry Maguire, could have won it. A similar scoreline now would suggest United have more substance this season and extend Liverpool’s mini-slump. And, given this could be the season when Liverpool overtake United and become the first club to become champions of England 21 times, it could at least give Amorim an influence in the title race.