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Is it time to think the unthinkable?
Cast your mind back three weeks. It’s Saturday night in Malaysia; Brentford have beaten Manchester United 3-1 and Ruben Amorim is a dead man walking.
Liverpool are kicking off later at Crystal Palace, with a 100% record, top of the league, and Arnie Slot is the monarch of all he surveys.
His team are still winning when not playing well, the mark of champions.
Once again, they don’t play well, but this time they don’t win.
The customary late goal comes at the other end – scored by Eddie Nketiah – and there goes their 100% record.
It seems no more than a reality check for the Reds: Palace are tough opponents, after all.
But then comes a chastening midweek loss to Galatasaray, who are not, but their fans are.
To round off a week from hell, Chelsea’s Brazilian wonderkid Estevao slides in to make it three defeats in a row as United beat Sunderland.
The win over the Black Cats is enough to earn Amorim a vote of confidence for three years, which might mean he survives until next month.
And for once, his players return from international duty unscathed.
In contrast, Slot surveys only carnage: half his first XI are crocked after, or even before, playing for their countries.
Ryan Gravenberch was subbed at halftime by the Netherlands, Ibrahima Konate left the France squad early, Wataru Endo didn’t make the Japan squad.
Alexis Mac Allister has been injured all season but still played for Argentina in a game delayed until early Thursday. He’s on the way back as I write this, but he did score two goals.
Meanwhile, Slot’s two most expensive recruits, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, were booed off the field by their own fans.
Yup, the mood has changed.
Three weeks, three defeats and the world can look a very different place.
For both clubs.
Has Amorim risen from the dead? Are Liverpool in crisis?
These are the questions being asked just seven games into the season.
So, there’s even more riding on the first clash between these two mortal enemies than usual.
If Liverpool were somehow to lose, it would be four defeats in a row – something that is more than a blip.
It would also mean that United were only two points behind them in the table.
Two points separating the champions, with £300m spent, from a United side that lost to Grimsby and, by their own admission, are a work in progress.
Unthinkable though it may be to Kopites, it’s not beyond the realms.
An early goal to quieten the Kop. Liverpool still not clicking. The Devils playing as if their lives depended on it. Anfield frustrated.
Defeat would be inquest time for Slot and the players. Could it be that the recruitment maestros got it wrong? Maybe Salah is fading? Maybe they shouldn’t have sold Diaz? Etc? Etc?
Liverpool pessimists might already be fearing the worst. But there’s no need for panic: the stats don’t lie.
Isak did score 54 goals in 86 EPL games for Newcastle United. Wirtz earned universal acclaim as a generational player. Slot won the title in his first season.
They will come good – they just need time, and a break. As stated in a previous column, maybe there were too many changes at once.
But the only real cause for concern would be another injury to a centreback.
Perhaps they should have made sure they signed Marc Guehi rather than trying to get him for the lowest price. Another £5 million would have done it.
Now they’re sweating every time Virgil van Dijk or Ibrahima Konate goes down. And Slot doesn’t seem to rate Joe Gomez.
A win for Manchester United could give momentum to their season.
It would also mean that Amorim had finally, after a year in the job, removed that pesky back-to-back win monkey.
He’s been lucky that Ratcliffe has taken a shine to him. It’s giving him the look of a survivor.
Anyone who can survive a loss to Grimsby can survive anything, you feel.
Ratcliffe realises that managers need time, but does Amorim deserve it?
His win ratio is at least 20% down on all his post-Fergie predecessors.
And there’s still no coherent strategy either on or off the field. Buying three attack minded players when midfield is the glaring weakness.
Asking Bruno Fernandes to carry the burden and not giving the criminally neglected Kobbie Mainoo a game.
Hailed for greatness by Rio Ferdinand and chosen for England by Gareth Southgate when still a teen, the local boy looked to have the world at his feet.
Remember his goal against Liverpool last season? Liverpool haven’t forgotten it.
Now he no longer gets a look in.
But Devils’ fans do stay loyal to their manager – unlike those at some clubs we could mention.
But they betrayed their desperation for success by acclaiming Belgian keeper, Senne Lammens, “the new Schmeichel” after a couple of decent saves.
As for the great Dane himself, he has called their transfer policy “weird” for letting compatriot, Rasmus Hojlund, go and paying £70 million for Benjamin Sesko.
However, there has been a clear-out of duds and so-called bad apples, and a few green shoots have popped up.
Allright, the instant success of the likes of Antony, Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Hojlund upon departure has led to United being labelled a finishing school.
But their removal has also allowed others to flourish, notably the long-forgotten Mason Mount.
As for Slot, he will have been heartened by Salah’s two goals in securing Egypt a place in next year’s World Cup finals with a 3-0 win over Djibouti.
Fortunate not to be booked for shoving an opponent to the ground for not retreating at a freekick, Salah’s first was a neat finish and the second an astute lob over the keeper.
Liverpool will be glad he is warmed up for his favourite foes – against whom he has scored 15 times in 16 games.
As the Egyptian King will be missing for Afcon in the middle of the season, the Reds will be hoping the goals are mere appetisers for a feast to follow.
As for Wirtz, he has overcome more daunting obstacles than a slow start in his EPL career: he tore his ACL at 19, and soon after recovering from that, he suffered a severe ankle injury.
There will be no better occasion to rediscover his mojo than on Sunday.
It’s not unthinkable that United could win, but a more likely scenario is that the Slot machine will resume normal service.
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The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

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