5 things Manchester United need to do at Anfield to beat Liverpool

Manchester United visit Anfield on Saturday to play their fourth away game of the season. All their away games were against the teams that are struggling at the bottom half of the table - and the Red Devils won two and drew a game.

The thirteen-time Premier League champion have conceded just two goals in their first seven Premier League fixtures. However, the real test begins now as there are an array of tough away fixtures lined up for the most successful team in the Premier League era. Liverpool will be hoping to end the Red Devils' near-perfect record this season.

Here are the five things that Manchester United need to do to defeat Liverpool and maintain their unbeaten run.

#1 – Man-mark Coutinho with Herrera

With the emergence of zonal marking strategy in the early '90s, the man-marking system is almost gone at the élite level of modern-style football. There is a difference between man-marking in set-pieces and open play.

And we are talking about the man-marking strategy in the open play, where a player escorts the opponent player throughout the game giving him no space to run freely.

Mourinho used Ander Herrera last season to mark Eden Hazard throughout the game. He frustrated the Belgian with the textbook man-marking effort and nullified his attacking threat.

They should go with a similar man-marking option to diminish the threat of the Liverpool attack. The majority of the attack comes from Coutinho, who is their linchpin. By marking Coutinho with Herrera, United can obstruct the bulk of supply to the front-three.

#2 – Counter Liverpool’s Counter-attacking football

Blind replaces Young in a tighter backline to handle Liverpool's Counter-attack

The match at Merseyside is going to be the battle of counter-attacks. Of the 70 games played so far in the Premier League this season, only six goals have come from the counter. Of them, Liverpool have scored three and Manchester United have scored two.

The home side exhibited a well-made counter-attacking show to demolish the Gunners in a highly-convincing 4-0 Premier League victory at Anfield last month. One of the fastest Liverpool wing pairs, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, provide an impressive and pacy wide attack. Firmino complements them with slick and smart movement into opponent’s defence.

The Special One is renowned for his defensive playing style in crucial away games. He should not over commit the full-backs and the defensive midfielders into the attack, maintaining a defensive shape all the time.

United need full-backs with more of a defensive mentality. Hence, Daley Blind should replace Ashley Young to provide more solidity to the back four. As shown in the image above, a compact back-line is important to prevent the penetration of Salah and Mane from the wings.

#3 - Make use of their towering aerial threat and convert the Set-Pieces

Manchester United have the second-tallest squad, making the average height of the players to 6ft 1in. They are second only to Tony Pulis' West Brom side. United's three significant summer signings are all easily over 6 foot tall .

When the Portuguese took charge in 2016, United was 7th tallest in the league.

The conscious transformation in height is paying the dividend for the Red Devils as they have scored six set-piece goals in the seven Premier League games so far. In the last season, United could manage only seven in 38 Premier League games. They are number one in the set-piece conversion record so far this season.

United must deploy the same strategy against the Reds at Anfield. The home side has one of the worst defensive records in conceding from set-pieces. They have conceded three goals from the set-piece positions and United must make use of the opponent's vulnerability.

#2 - Juan Mata must be benched to have pace and fluidity in attack

Mourinho will have to make a tough decision to bench Mata

Juan Mata has been deployed as the right winger of United's attack this season. He just scored one goal with no assists in the 8 games he played so far this season. Despite a fairly mediocre record, his manager trusts his ability to drift into the inside-right flank, either tapping the ball infield to the sprinting Mkhitaryan or tucking it outfield for Valencia to cross the ball into the 6-yard box.

However, Mourinho should drop him for the Anfield battle purely due to strategic reasons.

The coach's attacking strategy will be to counter-attack or to play a direct football for the most part of the game. For both these style of playing, United need pacy and tall players. Sadly, the Spaniard will not fit into Jose's strategy.

If he plays as a right-winger, he has to counter Salah’s pace and given that the Spaniard is not among the quickest players, he will be bullied by the Egyptian's speed.

#3 - Target Liverpool’s unsettled back four soon at the onset of the game

Liverpool's defensive worries compound as the season progress

Yet another defensive lapse by the centre-backs let Liverpool down as they registered another uninspiring draw against the newly-promoted Newcastle side. Liverpool had the worst of Septembers as they could manage to win just one of the seven games they played.

They conceded a mind-boggling 14 goals in those seven fixtures, which include a 5-0 rout by Manchester City at Etihad Stadium. Liverpool’s defence has conceded 9 open goals in seven Premier League fixtures, which is the third worst defensive record this season.

So, where do Liverpool struggle?

One, they are too weak against defending attacks down the wings. Rashford and Martial must attack the 20-year-old Joseph Gomez down the left flank. 90 minutes of attack shared between Rashford and Martial will give United one or two clear-cut chance(s) to score a goal.

And two, too weak against through balls. Matic and Mkhitaryan have been phenomenal with their passing this season. A pseudo outward wing movement by Rashford or Martial will drive the full-backs to the corners opening up space for the midfielders to provide through ball to Lukaku. These through balls will trouble the disorganised Liverpool center-backs, Matip and Lovren.

The United Attack should test the Red defensive unit as soon as the game starts. This will put them at the back-foot from the onset.

Edited by Umid Kumar Dey