English football’s fiercest rivalry continues on Saturday evening.
The game between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield has added fascination with both sides losing their last game (United away at Swansea and Liverpool at home to West Ham so whichever manager ends up on the losing side come Saturday night will have a lot of questions to answer.
The north-west rivals are the country’s most successful clubs and have featured some of the best footballers of the past 50 years, from George Best and Bobby Charlton, to Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness.
We’re focusing instead on the Premier League era, and have combined the best players from both during the era, into one super-team spanning the past 23 years.
As United were more successful during the past three decades, the team is slightly skewed in their favour, but it’s still a formidable line-up.
1. Edwin van der Sar
Peter Schmeichel was the most iconic goalkeeper to play for either club during the Premier League era. The Dane is the undisputed choice for many former player’s best XI’s, a great shot-stopper, defensive organiser and a key personality in Manchester United’s all conquering team of the 90s.
However, we’re going with Edwin van der Sar for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Dutch goalkeeper, unlike Schmeichel, rarely made mistakes. Schmeichel had a habit of getting lobbed quite a bit, Van Der Sar’s positioning was generally excellent.
As was the Dutchman’s distribution and he was as comfortable in possession as most outfield players.
Schmeichel’s greatest strength, his shot-stopping, also wouldn’t be as required in a team of this quality. Van der Sar may not be as iconic as his Old Trafford predecessor, but he’s in this team for his all-round ability.
Defence
2. Gary Neville
Before he was everyone’s favourite TV football pundit, Gary Neville was, with the exception of United fans, the footballer most fans loved to hate. The right-back is probably the least naturally talented player in our team, but his career is a testament to his hard work and intelligence.
Neville was at his best when playing with David Beckham, constantly overlapping the wide-midfielder and providing crosses for United’s forwards. He was defensively sound and his work on Sky Sports in retirement highlights his considerable tactical knowledge. 100 per cent commitment was a given.
3. Denis Irwin
‘People ask you who is your best Man United team,’ Alex Ferguson said during an event, launching his autobiography in 2013. It is absolutely impossible… But honestly, I would say Denis Irwin would be the one certainty to get in the team. I called him an eight out of 10′.
Irwin was consistently excellent throughout his 13 years at Old Trafford and would get into a combined United, Liverpool team from any era.
5. Nemanja Vidic
Just ahead of Jaap Stam, partly due to being at the club longer, is United’s former Serbian defender. Nemanja Vidic was fearless and aggressive, strong in the tackle and comfortable in possession. The defensive lynchpin of Ferguson’s final great team.
6. Jamie Carragher
Taking his place to the left of his Monday Night Football colleague is Jamie Carragher. If he hadn’t have retired in 2013, and played another season, would Liverpool have won their first Premier League last season?
There is, of course, no way to definitively answer that, but there’s no doubt Liverpool would have benefited from his leadership and defensive organisation last year. They certainly wouldn’t have capitulated as they did to Crystal Palace, and Steven Gerrard wouldn’t have had an ocean of space behind him for Demba Ba to run into after the infamous slip.
Carragher, like Neville, wasn’t as naturally gifted as the other players in this team, but more than 700 appearances for Liverpool is a testament to his hard work.
Midfield
4. Xabi Alonso
The brain of this team. Liverpool suffered a lobotomy when Alonso left for Real Madrid in 2009. From almost winning the league, and starting the following campaign as favourites, they floundered in Alonso’s absence and finished seventh.
There were other factors in the team’s decline, but Alonso’s departure was seismic. The Spaniard dictates games, raising and lowering the tempo with his stunning range of passing and is blessed with wonderful technique.
Alonso’s former team mates, from Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid, to Steven Gerrard, may get the goals, the headlines and the accolades, but the Spaniard provided the platform for them to thrive.
8. Roy Keane (C)
There was only ever one contender for this team’s captain.
Strip away the litany of controversial incidents, the fued with Ferguson, Saipan, the play about Saipan, the caricature of him as a manically aggressive, skinhead thug, the beard, the books, the verbal character assassinations and you’re left with a truly excellent footballer.
Keane was intelligent, as comfortable in possession as he was with winning it back and he set the tone for United’s greatest victories with his lung busting energy. He never went missing, no matter what the score was or the occasion, Keane would continue to look for possession, to cajole his team mates and cover as much ground as possible. In his earlier seasons at Old Trafford he even had an eye for goal.
Keane’s public persona, which provokes such polar reactions in people, can overshadow just how good he was.
10. Paul Scholes
Sorry Liverpool fans, we’ve left out Steven Gerrard. But this shouldn’t be seen as a direct slight against the Liverpool captain, or that we don’t think he was a brilliant footballer, this midfield is just better balanced with the presence of Scholes.
Gerrard has never performed, to the same level, the roles Alonso or Keane did, so it becomes a question of him or Scholes. Despite inevitable protests to the contrary, Gerrard’s best performances were not in central midfield. During his peak years, from 2004 to 2009, the Liverpool captain was deployed from the wide left or right, or behind the striker.
His performances were consistently excellent, and there wasn’t a lot he couldn’t do, but he arguably lacked the positional discipline to play as a central midfielder, despite possessing all of the physical attributes.
Like Keane, a cult of the individual has followed Gerrard for years. He was not a central-midfield general in the mould of Keane and Viera, and he didn’t single handedly drag Liverpool to the Champions League title.
Scholes rarely played a game of football where he wasn’t the most intelligent player on the pitch. He struck the ball beautifully, his passing was pinpoint, hence the nickname ‘sat nav’, and vision unrivalled. Scholes played the game in 3D, seeing things before others and always seemed to have time on the ball.
Gerrard was the better athlete, but football is a game where the first few yards are in the head. Hence why Scholes remained a key part of a title winning team aged 37. Gerrard was a better tackler, no contest there really, and at this point one could probably point to his greater goal tally.
The Liverpool captain has scored 183 goals in 702 games, Scholes got 155 in 718 appearances. However, 47 of Gerrard’s goals were penalties. Scholes, like Gerrard, regularly finished seasons with double figure goal tallies. He could also, like the Liverpool captain, score spectacular goals.
Both were fantastic players, among the best of their generation, but Scholes, for this team, just edges it overall. Just…
A joy to watch.
Forwards
7. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from Old Trafford must still sting most United fans, as the current Ballon d’Or holder was just 24 when he left for Real Madrid. He could’ve become the best United player ever.
11. Luis Suarez
Liverpool arguably still haven’t adjusted to life after Luis Suarez, and the Premier League is also a lesser spectacle for the Uruguayan’s absence.
During his four years in England, Suarez was the Premier League’s most exciting and controversial footballer. Suarez constantly ran, hassled and pressed, was nimble and skilful and seemed to play, at times, on pure instinct alone. He scored spectacular goals and made everyone around him at Liverpool a better player. Suarez has also showed a selfless side to his play his first season in Barcelona.
9. Eric Cantona
There are a number of viable candidates to lead this combined XI’s front-line, from Robbie Fowler, to Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney to Fernando Torres, but we’re going with Eric Cantona.
Cantona was a wonderfully gifted player, blessed with power, technique and masterful spatial awareness. He was physically powerful enough to lead this line, but played his best football dropping deep. Perfect foil for his fellow forwards.
12. Pepe Reina
As we can’t imagine Peter Schmeichel would want to sit on the bench, we’re going with Liverpool’s former Spanish goalkeeper.
13. Jaap Stam
He wasn’t at Old Trafford for long, but Stam was a near complete centre-half. Strong, fast and could read the game excellently.
14. Steven Gerrard
Don’t worry Liverpool fans, he’ll be making an appearance at some point.
15. Ryan Giggs
Another player who was really difficult to omit, Giggs went from flying winger to midfield maestro and achieved unparalleled longevity and success.
16. Robbie Fowler
Before the injuries, the emergence of Michael Owen and Gerard Houllier, Robbie Fowler was an incredible goalscorer for Liverpool. For three consecutive seasons, when he was barely out of his teens, Fowler scored over thirty goals per campaign.
