From Scholes surprise to Keane circus, 4 examples of Liverpool v Man United predictions that have aged poorly

There’s certainly a few who will have regretted their pre-match predictions after Jurgen Klopp’s side thrashed Manchester United 7-0.
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As Roberto Firmino fired in a late seventh goal for Liverpool against Manchester United at Anfield, the footballing world was put on notice as Jurgen Klopp’s side dished out one of the most dominant wins in Premier League history.

No-one had predicted a scoreline like that. United headed into Sunday’s game in terrific form and it led to plenty of confident and arrogant pre-match quotes from the likes of Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand. All of them were left to eat their words after a brutal defeat.

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In light of that, we’ve dug out some of the best pre-match quotes that have gone onto age like milk left out in the sun.

Rio Ferdinand

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the former United defender made an extremely bold claim ahead of the Premier League clash. Fresh off the back of just one defeat in 20 games, you could be forgiven for thinking that United had a good chance of getting something against Liverpool.

However, Ferdinand went way overboard with his pre-match comments claiming that the United were on a better trajectory than their rivals: “If you put the two teams on a graph, Manchester United are going in one direction and Liverpool have stagnated.”

Gary Neville & Roy Keane vs Graeme Souness

Both former United players were on the Sky Sports pundit team for the game and both were called out by Graeme Souness pre-match, as he backed his former side. Speaking pre-match he claimed: “I fully expect them [Liverpool] to turn up today, it’s a long time since I’ve been this confident about a Liverpool win against [Manchester] United.”

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He then pointed towards the former United duo, who were seen laughing and smiling at Souness’ comments, as the pair dimissed his claims. Neville claimed he had ‘real faith’ in United pre-match and claimed this side were a ‘tough bunch’.

Following the match, the whole panel, which also included Jamie Carragher engaged in a heated argument after the match in which Neville claimed ‘Liverpool didn’t play that well’. Obviously hurt by the defeat, Keane opted for his typical scathing response as he claimed the ‘circus was back in town’.

Neville couldn’t contain his feelings as he hit out at Carragher and Souness as he claimed they were ‘gloating like children’ and it’s clear to see the former right-back was humbled.

Paul Scholes

The former United midfielder spoke prior to the game in a similar vein to his former teammate Ferdinand, as he spoke about the difference in both side’s seasons to date.

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“I have been a little surprised by Liverpool’s season. I was actually on here thinking Liverpool have a great chance of winning the league this year. I was so wrong.” Scholes told Premier League productions.

He also spoke how the improvements they had made were ‘off the scale’ and that they now had ‘leaders’, but his confidence would have surely dwindled from the moment Cody Gakpo scored.

Paul Merson

One pundit who had no affiliation with either side was Paul Merson, but the former Arsenal attacker still couldn’t see United losing, as he spoke to Metro: ‘United will want Liverpool to have a go at them so that they can hit them on the counter. Klopp’s side could play right into United’s hands on Sunday.”

“They’ll need to rejig their setup because the current one is not working like it used to. I think they’ll lose here, 2-1.” Merson added. He also claimed that Mohamed Salah is not having a good season; apparently 22 goals and 11 assists is a poor season.