90min
·3 janvier 2025
90min
·3 janvier 2025
Liverpool manager Arne Slot was full of praise for Ruben Amorim's Manchester United, insisting that the club's lowly league position was not an accurate reflection of their quality.
Slot will pit his wits against Amorim on Sunday afternoon when United travel to Anfield for an always highly anticipated Premier League matchup. The two most successful clubs in English football history have enjoyed and endured contrasting campaigns thus far.
While the Merseyside outfit sit top of the Premier League and Champions League tables, United have lost four consecutive matches for just the second time since 1961. The Red Devils are languishing in the bottom half of the top flight, with less than half as many points as their eternal rivals at the season's halfway mark.
Slot was asked at his pre-match press conference if he would rest any of his key players against an opponent that started the weekend in 14th place. "A strange question," the Dutch coach laughed, "no I don't plan to. It's a big game. For me, I said it before the first fixture and one more time, they have much better players than the league table shows.
It has not been an easy adaptation for Ruben Amorim at Man Utd / Stu Forster/GettyImages
"It will take a while, maybe, for Ruben Amorim, but they will definitely go up, and they are much, much, much better than the league table shows."
Liverpool's boss admitted that he had "sympathy" for his United counterpart, who has lost six of his first 11 matches. "He did so well at Sporting," Slot noted. "He has a good squad of players and he [will] eventually bring the best out of them."
As Slot was reminded, United battled to a goalless draw on their last visit to Anfield back in December 2023 despite conceding 34 shots. "Every game is a difficult one in the Premier League," the manager stressed. "It is more important for them to win at Anfield, we have to be really well prepared."