Can Rodgers’ ‘pub team’ give LVG a hangover?

The world’s most important pub match will be played out in front of 75,000 people and a TV audience of millions this afternoon.

Thanks to Sky pundit Gary Neville, Manchester United against Liverpool has been rebranded as The Dog and Duck versus The Red Lion.

Those were the words the former United full-back came up with to illustrate how poorly these two teams are playing ahead of what has always been one of the Premier League’s showcase fixtures.

Sir Alex Ferguson used to say that the game against Liverpool was the biggest of the lot. Bigger than Manchester City, bigger than Chelsea or Arsenal.

Neville himself showed back in 2006 how much it meant when he ran to celebrate Rio Ferdinand’s injury-time winner in front of the travelling Liverpool fans.

He was blamed for inciting disturbances outside the ground after the game, and fined £5,000 by the FA.

So for him to reduce the status of this encounter to the level of a Sunday morning game between a couple of hung-over, beer-bellied teams from rival boozers shows how far he believes the two have descended from previous standards.

Neville was talking after United had somehow scraped a 2-1 win at Southampton, having had just three attempts on goal the lowest of any Premier League side this season.

He watched Liverpool fail to score at home to Sunderland last Saturday, and wasn’t any more complimentary about Brendan Rodgers’ side after they then slipped meekly out of the Champions League with another Anfield draw against Basel on Tuesday.

Louis van Gaal took issue with Neville’s assessment.

“He can say everything because he is an ex-legend. But as an ex-legend, or as a legend, you have to know what you are saying,” said the United boss. “It’s not difficult. He has to pay attention to his words.”

Neville is paid well for his punditry because he’s good at it. In those few words, he summed up what both teams have been like at times this season.

Against the Saints, Van Gaal took young defender Paddy McNair off after 39 minutes because he was making so many mistakes.

Against Basel, Brendan Rodgers withdrew Rickie Lambert and Jose Enrique at half-time because they were so poor.

Liverpool have defended like a pub team all season, with £20m Dejan Lovren and Martin Skrtel completely out of tune with each other, right-back Glen Johnson appearing half asleep much of the time and keeper Simon Mignolet looking like he’s a mistake waiting to happen.

The fact that, in the odd games he’s played, Kolo Toure looks their best defender says it all.

United have improved at the back since promoted Leicester put five past them. But Van Gaal is deeply unhappy about how easily his team gives the ball away.

It was United’s lack of passing accuracy that provoked Neville’s pub-team comments.

He was talking about the quality of the football likely to be seen, rather than any diminishing of the importance of the fixture.

The League title might not rest on what happens this afternoon, but it’s crucial nonetheless.

United go into it having just won five on the trot and hauled themselves into the top four. Van Gaal may have been winning ugly but he’s been winning.

Another victory would confirm their status as the team most likely to worry Chelsea and Manchester City.

Liverpool are in desperate need of a good week. Having been dumped from the Champions League, their season is on the verge of collapse.

After United they’re at Bournemouth in the Capital One Cup then at home to Arsenal.

Three wins would give back some impetus, three defeats and Rodgers Manager of the Year in May would be under severe pressure.

When Liverpool last came to Old Trafford in March, they comfortably won 3-0 and left 14 points ahead of United.

Of course, that was when Luis Suarez was calling the shots, with Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho and Steven Gerrard all looking razor sharp around him.

Now the whole club is flat and Rodgers is struggling to do anything about it.

The £75m Suarez money and more seems to have been wasted. Those players who were sparking nine months ago look ponderous and lacking ideas.

Neville’s pub match analogy may have been tongue-in-cheek, but for Liverpool’s season it could turn out to be the Last Chance Saloon.