So in a bid to remind people that Manchester United were once a decent side, Aunty Beeb is running a current Liverpool vs. 2013 Manchester United combined XI selector.
In my view, a far more interesting comparison is between the 2013 Liverpool side that finished 7th and the current United side to see which team is/was the shiiitest. So here we go:
Line up 442.
GK: A demoralised and distracted Reina vs. De Gea with a few PL seasons under his belt. Despite his early struggles, I'll have to give this to DDG purely because Reina was crap that season. Reina of a few years earlier would be a different story.
RB: Johnson vs. AWB. Johnson wins out for me although AWB probably has a higher potential but it's too soon for him. Johnson got a lot of stick for his defensive capabilities but a lot of it was lazy punditry and he chipped in with some important goals for us.
CB: Carragher & Agger vs. Maguire & AN Other. No contest really, it's the Liverpool pair for me. Agger would have been remembered as one of the greatest left footed CBs in the PL if it weren't for his injuries and Carragher could probably still do a job in that United defence today.
LB: Enrique vs. Shaw. Enrique was pretty consistent back in those days before injuries did for him. Shaw just hasn't lived up to the promise he showed at Saints and that nasty injury probably didn't help. Therefore Enrique just about shades it.
Central Midfield: 2 from Henderson, Lucas, Allen & Gerrard vs. 2 from Fred, Matic, McT or Pogba. It's the 2 Champions League winning captains for me here. Can't really see a reason why anyone would pick any other player listed.
Attacking Midfielder/Wingers: 2 from Coutinho, Sterling & Downing vs. 2 from Mata, James and Lingard. I really like James and think he's done well so far despite the pressure on him to create/score goals in a struggling side so he's in. Sterling misses out as 2012/13 were mainly sub appearances for him so Coutinho is in as he had a huge impact despite only arriving in the January of that season.
Strikers: 2 from Suarez, Sturridge & Borini vs. Martial, Rashford & Greenwood. Suarez is a no brainer so it's then Sturridge vs. the United boys and he wins out seeing as he scored 10 in 14 after arriving in January.
Final team is:
De Gea, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique, James, Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Suarez, Sturridge.
2 United vs. 9 Liverpool. A couple of close calls but think that's pretty fair. You could argue that the positions from 3rd-10th are a little less competitive this season than they were back in 2013 but is this current United side really that far behind a side that finished 7th behind Everton?
WUMS WILL BE DELETED.
2013 Liverpool vs. Current United XI
posted on 18/10/19
Sterling over James for me. But agree with the rest. He may have only made sub appearances but then if he was playing in the current United side I'd expect he would have been starting over James.
posted on 18/10/19
Also no way does Maguire and AWB get in ahead of Agger and Johnson. That's crazy talk.
posted on 18/10/19
comment by Alisson Wonderland (Formerly LGT) (U13718)
posted 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Agger aged 22/23 pushed Hyypia out of our side on merit and was a mainstay of a side that regularly made the CL knockout stage. What has Maguire done in comparison? A handful of Europa League appearances and scored a header for England against a poor Sweden side as well as somehow convincing Woodward that he should be made the world's most expensive defender? I'm not buying that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hyypia was getting old and coming to the end of his time at Liverpool anyway, it’s not like Agger displaced him in his prime. You can’t talk about regularly getting to the latter stages of the CL as a reason to have Agger either, Maguire’s only been at United for 1/4 of a season, the price tag isn’t Maguire’s fault either.
You have to judge their actual footballing abilities, not team achievements. They can both play from the back, Maguire’s probably stronger, better defensively and better in the air.
F*ck it, keep Agger, I’m having Maguire over the MASSIVELY overrated, not to mention limited Jamie Carragher.
posted on 18/10/19
comment by BruceAndPally (U8201)
posted 34 minutes ago
comment by Alisson Wonderland (Formerly LGT) (U13718)
posted 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Agger aged 22/23 pushed Hyypia out of our side on merit and was a mainstay of a side that regularly made the CL knockout stage. What has Maguire done in comparison? A handful of Europa League appearances and scored a header for England against a poor Sweden side as well as somehow convincing Woodward that he should be made the world's most expensive defender? I'm not buying that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hyypia was getting old and coming to the end of his time at Liverpool anyway, it’s not like Agger displaced him in his prime. You can’t talk about regularly getting to the latter stages of the CL as a reason to have Agger either, Maguire’s only been at United for 1/4 of a season, the price tag isn’t Maguire’s fault either.
You have to judge their actual footballing abilities, not team achievements. They can both play from the back, Maguire’s probably stronger, better defensively and better in the air.
F*ck it, keep Agger, I’m having Maguire over the MASSIVELY overrated, not to mention limited Jamie Carragher.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on 19/10/19
comment by BruceAndPally (U8201)
posted 1 hour, 1 minute ago
comment by Alisson Wonderland (Formerly LGT) (U13718)
posted 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Agger aged 22/23 pushed Hyypia out of our side on merit and was a mainstay of a side that regularly made the CL knockout stage. What has Maguire done in comparison? A handful of Europa League appearances and scored a header for England against a poor Sweden side as well as somehow convincing Woodward that he should be made the world's most expensive defender? I'm not buying that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hyypia was getting old and coming to the end of his time at Liverpool anyway, it’s not like Agger displaced him in his prime. You can’t talk about regularly getting to the latter stages of the CL as a reason to have Agger either, Maguire’s only been at United for 1/4 of a season, the price tag isn’t Maguire’s fault either.
You have to judge their actual footballing abilities, not team achievements. They can both play from the back, Maguire’s probably stronger, better defensively and better in the air.
F*ck it, keep Agger, I’m having Maguire over the MASSIVELY overrated, not to mention limited Jamie Carragher.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on 19/10/19
comment by There'sOnlyOneRed's (U1721)
posted 31 minutes ago
comment by BruceAndPally (U8201)
posted 34 minutes ago
comment by Alisson Wonderland (Formerly LGT) (U13718)
posted 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Agger aged 22/23 pushed Hyypia out of our side on merit and was a mainstay of a side that regularly made the CL knockout stage. What has Maguire done in comparison? A handful of Europa League appearances and scored a header for England against a poor Sweden side as well as somehow convincing Woodward that he should be made the world's most expensive defender? I'm not buying that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hyypia was getting old and coming to the end of his time at Liverpool anyway, it’s not like Agger displaced him in his prime. You can’t talk about regularly getting to the latter stages of the CL as a reason to have Agger either, Maguire’s only been at United for 1/4 of a season, the price tag isn’t Maguire’s fault either.
You have to judge their actual footballing abilities, not team achievements. They can both play from the back, Maguire’s probably stronger, better defensively and better in the air.
F*ck it, keep Agger, I’m having Maguire over the MASSIVELY overrated, not to mention limited Jamie Carragher.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, I said it.
posted on 19/10/19
I agree with OP’s appraisal of Johnson. He came under fire a lot but going forward he was great and suited Liverpool. He would probably be a lot more appreciated nowadays now that people are starting to realise good full backs at the top, for the most part, have to be good footballers going forward. Baines as well would be more appreciated these days (for him though it didn’t helped he was at his peak same time as Cole).
posted on 19/10/19
I would also choose Pogba over Henderson. I get the rationale for choosing James over Sterling. As OP said in 12/13 Sterling was just breaking through. Still they were probably of similar quality. Sterling was 16 turning 17 in this season, James was 21 turning 22. Sterling started improving exponentially from his next season in a way I don’t expect James to.
And also I think Enrique and Shaw is more close than OP made out in my opinion. Perhaps Enrique on basis that he managed to have a full season of performing at a good level. Shaw hasn’t had that since Southampton. But when he does have his runs he reaches a similar level, and with a prolonged injury free run could go a level above
posted on 19/10/19
people who were critical of Johnson didn't say too much when we had Flanagan and manquillo.
he was a decent player, could play both sides and delivered a decent level of performance.
posted on 19/10/19
I always felt Johnson was criticised for doing what he was told to do and it was called being out of position, when in reality he was in the position he was asked to be in.
People still do this, seeing a full back as what they were in the 90s, defenders first and foremost and the odd foray into the opponents half to get a cross in. If he has got into an attacking position up the pitch and the midfield have lost the ball then it is seen as the full back being out of position when in reality it is the fault of the midfield losing the ball and in some cases not covering the full back which is part of their job.