How many Man Utd players would start for Liverpool?

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 6 Apr 2024 19:44 BST
• 4 min read

Manchester United face Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday in their now familiar spot behind the Anfield club in the Premier League standings.

As the finishing straight of the campaign nears, Erik ten Hag’s side find themselves frustratingly off the pace in the league once again.

United go into Sunday’s match a whopping 22 points behind Liverpool, having won only one of their last five Premier League games.

READ MORE: The answer to Man Utd's midfield problems was there all along

An overhaul is inevitable at Old Trafford in the summer, but just how extensive does it need to be?

Clearly, Man Utd need to find players who are at Liverpool’s level, but how many do they already have?

Using SciSports, FootballTransfers has studied just how many Red Devils would make the grade for Klopp & Co.

This study isn’t based around styles or who might fit in most effectively at Anfield. After all, the chaotic nature of Liverpool’s play is very different from the style practised by Ten Hag. Instead, this is purely around which players have the highest SciSkill score, a rating given to players based around hundreds of in-game data points to determine quality.

READ MORE: Romano tells Liverpool & Man Utd what they must do to sign Marc Guehi

Man Utd and Liverpool combined XI

There’s no contest in goal: Alisson blows Andre Onana out of the water and is on a different level to the Man Utd No.1.

Across the defence, there’s a similar story. No Man Utd player even gets close to starting for Liverpool, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate the best players in this area. Joe Gomez is also better than anything United have.

Things don’t get much better for Man Utd in midfield. The two deeper role in this team are filled by Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, with Ryan Gravenberch surpassing anyone Ten Hag can call upon in this area.

Where the Old Trafford side do finally have an edge is in that more attacking midfield role, which Bruno Fernandes takes.

Liverpool’s dominance is regained on the wings. Mohamed Salah, of course, makes the grade on the right while Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz are all better than anything United can call upon on the left. Marcus Rashford would only be the Reds’ fourth choice in his favoured role.

Finally, the centre-forward role is dominated by Liverpool. Darwin Nunez is the best pure No.9 between the clubs, yet Jota could also be deployed in this role.

This shows the gulf that exists between the two great clubs at present, and why it could be some years before Man Utd are back fighting Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.