Manchester United have looked better under Jose Mourinho this season. The ponderous football of Louis van Gaal is a thing of the past, but while things have improved, there's room for more. They have showed quality only in flashes, not offering many convincing complete games. They showed good spells against Leicester but the 4-1 win was more to do with the champions' poor defending. They were impressive against Stoke last time out but the failure to score more than one goal cost them victory, while they were well-beaten by Manchester City and only scraped a win against Hull.
They won't be able to get away with much against Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp's side are more advanced toward their ambitions than United, which isn't a surprise given their manager has had almost a year head start. Klopp's team haven't been perfect either, but they've already beaten Arsenal, Leicester and Chelsea with that relentless, rapid style of pressing football that will blow many teams away this season.
Could Marouane Fellaini return to the United midfield?
A few weeks ago, when Mourinho dropped Wayne Rooney for the visit of Leicester, the most surprising omission from his starting XI was not the United and England captain, but Marouane Fellaini. The big Belgian is not the most popular man among the Old Trafford faithful, but Mourinho seemed rather taken with him in the early weeks of the season. He can still do a job and provide some form of physicality in midfield as his more skillful colleagues perform their more artistic duties. Fellaini was instrumental in Rooney's winner at Anfield last season, the Belgian's header hitting the bar before United's captain tucked in the rebound back in January.
Could Fellaini return against Liverpool? It would make sense, given the defensive solidity he might offer against Liverpool's attacking midfielders, but perhaps Mourinho might prefer the extra mobility of Ander Herrera. Could Fellaini, Herrera and Paul Pogba form a midfield three, leaving Mourinho a decision to make in his attacking trio? Mourinho has largely stuck to one system so far this season, but this could be the game where he makes a slight alteration.
Will Anthony Martial get a chance to start again?
One of the more curious things about the start to United's season has been the form of Anthony Martial. The man whose spark and presence from the flanks was one of the few bright moments from last season started this campaign sluggishly, and he was left on the bench for the Manchester derby before injury ruled him out of a couple of games. However, Martial grabbed a goal against Stoke before the international break and he could be emerging from his late-summer funk and more toward the player he was last season. Could he start against Liverpool? Getting him in the same team as Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimovic might be tricky, but that's a forward line that not many defenders would particularly want to face.
Will the Liverpool defence hold up?
Perhaps United won't play exactly that forward line, but at least two of them should start and that's enough for the Liverpool defence to cope with. While Klopp's side have started the season well and in entertaining fashion, there's still the odd question about their defence. They've conceded 10 goals in seven games, more than anyone in the top 10 of the Premier League, and still look a side with an error or two in them. Their opening-weekend 4-3 victory over Arsenal suggested a team that is going to keep us entertained over the season, but not perhaps the most secure. They have yet to keep a clean sheet in the league.
Their goalkeeping situation will raise questions too. Loris Karius is still getting used to his new colleagues so Klopp might want to stick with a tried and tested stopper, but there was a reason the German was bought to provide Simon Mignolet with some competition. Elsewhere, as solid as James Milner has been at left-back, he is still a midfielder playing out of position, and that might be an area that Mourinho will target. It will be interesting to see how they cope with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and co.
Will Liverpool bring in an extra holding midfielder?
So far this season, Klopp has largely operated with a 4-1-4-1/4-2-3-1 formation, Jordan Henderson the most defensive of those midfielders. His plans may have to be altered slightly, after Georginio Wijnaldum picked up a hip injury while on international duty with Netherlands this week, but who will come in should the summer signing not be available? One option could be to move Milner from his role as an auxiliary left-back and into his more familiar central midfield position, with Alberto Moreno returning to the defence. Another might be Lucas, who has started only one league game this season (and that in defence), or possibly even Marko Grujic, the young Serbian. Any of those options don't necessarily provide the same attacking dynamic as Wijnaldum, so the balance of Klopp's team will inevitably change slightly. The question is which way and by how much?
Source: ESPN.
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