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ManU gaining respect from rivals ahead of crucial week

Published:Wednesday | January 6, 2021 | 12:08 AM
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, (back turned), celebrates with teammates after scoring his sides second goal of the game from the penalty spot during the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Old Trafford in Manch
AP
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, (back turned), celebrates with teammates after scoring his sides second goal of the game from the penalty spot during the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on Friday, January 1, 2021. United won 2-1.

Over the next seven days, Manchester United can reach a cup final and climb to the top of the Premier League – all at the expense of their two biggest rivals, Manchester City and Liverpool.

It makes for a potentially transformative week for United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who just a month ago was under real pressure – not for the first time in his turbulent, two-year tenure — after a group-stage elimination in the Champions League.

Now, Solskjaer is on the cusp of what would be seen as something of a breakthrough for United, English football’s grandest club, which have not won a trophy since 2017 and were beaten in the semi-finals of three competitions last season.

First up is a meeting with Man City in the League Cup semi-finals, a repeat of last season but this time, being played over only one leg because of the condensed, coronavirus-impacted season.

Twelve months ago, City won the first leg at Old Trafford 3-1 and ended up holding on for a 1-0 loss in the second leg at home to advance to a final Pep Guardiola’s team would win against Aston Villa.

Then, next Tuesday, United will travel to Burnley needing only to avoid defeat to move above Liverpool and into first place in the league after 17 games. Quite the motivation, considering United’s next match is at Anfield on January 17.

United, it seems, are back in the conversation when it comes to winning silverware. And that has got their rivals on edge.

Perhaps that was the reason Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, out of nowhere, referred to United’s penchant for winning penalties in his post-match news conference after a 1-0 loss at Southampton on Monday.

“I hear now,” Klopp said, “that Manchester United had more penalties in two years than I had in five-and-a-half years (at Liverpool).

Whether or not it was a ploy to plant a seed in the mind of referees, Klopp clearly has United in his thoughts.

Then there’s Guardiola, who has changed his approach to games this season by making his team more defensive-minded and less vulnerable to the counterattack. Nowhere has this vulnerability been more apparent than in matches against United, which have won three of the last five Manchester derbies – mostly through their ruthlessness on the counterattack.

The last derby was on December 12, a cagey league game that ended 0-0 with Guardiola again showing his caution.

Solskjaer has said since joining United in November 2018 that Liverpool and City are the yardsticks to which United needs to judge themselves. It has been an arduous journey but his team is finally at the stage where they can challenge England’s top two teams.