Liverpool boss Arne Slot recognises that Manchester United are in a ‘tough moment’ but has hailed the club’s work in the transfer market and ambition to get back on the right track.
Slot’s side take on the Red Devils at Anfield on Sunday afternoon with the two teams in contrasting situations.
The Reds are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table with the chance to go eight points clear of Arsenal with a win this weekend.
Ruben Amorim’s team are down in 14th after three straight league defeats and with just six victories in 19 top flight matches.
While few are giving Manchester United a shred of hope as they travel to Anfield, Slot has urged for some caution, expecting Amorim’s men to be highly motivated to turn things around against their old rivals.
The Dutchman has also praised United’s efforts in the transfer market, saying that they just need time to find success under their new manager.
‘The temptation for some will be to be drawn to the league table and to draw conclusions about what could happen today based solely on that. For me, this could only ever be a mistake,’ Slot wrote in his programme notes.
‘Even with my extremely limited knowledge of this fixture as a participant, I know full well that this is a game which comes down to performance on the day and not points on the board beforehand.
‘This is not to say I do not recognise that United have been in a tough moment of late. Their results have not been what they would want and this is something that everyone at their club will want to put right. I would imagine they will feel that there would be no better place to start this process than at Anfield.
‘United are historically a club which plans and invests to be successful. It was exactly the same during my first summer in the Premier League when they once again underlined their ambition in the transfer market to add to a squad which already had a lot of quality.
‘The problem is we live in an era in which the expectation is that success should always follow immediately but the reality is that, more often than not, time is needed to build something meaningful.’
Amorim has made a concerning admission about his own team ahead of their trip to the league-leaders, saying they are struggling mentally on the pitch.
‘They are anxious, sometimes afraid on the pitch,’ Amorim said. ‘We have to cope with that.
‘We need the leaders to step up to help the other guys and I’m the most responsible person here to improve the performances.
‘You can see the players are trying, sometimes too anxious, too afraid to play football because this is a difficult moment and we will help the players to be better.’
Liverpool go into the game in a pretty good place when it comes to injuries, with Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley pushing for returns after coming back into training.
The only player ruled out is Joe Gomez who has suffered a hamstring problem and will be out for a number of weeks.
‘Joe is, of course, not in a good place when it comes to his injury,’ said Slot ahead of the weekend. ‘He is out for a few weeks, that’s for sure. Conor and Ibou will train with us today for the first time. So, [I’m] curious and interested to see where they exactly are, of course.
‘They have worked hard to come back to the team but the next step is always: ‘How do you handle team sessions?’ They will train with us today, the two of them.
‘Of course, they still have to come in but we trained yesterday and I assume everybody is fit, although we are in a period of time where some people get sick as well. But I have heard nothing about that yet.
‘So, hopefully, everybody is ready – except for Joe Gomez – to be part of the game on Sunday.’