Liverpool were right to snub Ruben Amorim amid fears over his formation and ended up striking gold with Arne Slot - now Man Utd need a huge rebuild to suit their coach’s plans

Liverpool had a head start in their search to find a replacement for Klopp as the German first told them he would be leaving at the end of the season back in November 2023, two months before he officially announced his departure. And just as when they appointed Klopp in 2015 even after a disastrous final campaign with Borussia Dortmund, they were guided by the data.

Liverpool's resurgence under Klopp had been underpinned by a data revolution led by head of research Ian Graham, with encouragement from sporting director Michael Edwards. The search for the German's successor was overseen by Will Spearman, who earned a PhD in physics from Harvard and previously worked in nuclear research before becoming Liverpool's lead data scientist, and ultimately succeeded Graham in 2022. Edwards, who left the club in 2021 but then returned as football CEO in March 2024, also had a key say, along with Hughes.

According to The Athletic, Spearman had been working on an algorithm that evaluates coaching performance according to a number of metrics such as playing style, player development and compatibility with different types of players. Slot scored highest. Hughes, who had previously worked for Bournemouth, had also studied Slot's work closely during the process of signing Marcos Senesi for the Cherries from Feyenoord.

Slot's Feyenoord were found to be the most similar team to Klopp's Liverpool in Europe in terms of numbers of possessions per game, average pass length and speed of moving the ball upfield.

Slot has tweaked Liverpool's style of play in a number of ways, such as giving them greater control by playing Ryan Gravenberch in holding midfield, making the full-backs narrower to reduce counter-attacks, turning Cody Gakpo back into a left winger and playing Luis Diaz as a striker, but he is ultimately staying on the same path as his beloved predecessor. And that is why Liverpool had reservations about Amorim.

The Portuguese was considered and analysed as part of Liverpool's robust process given his stellar work with Sporting, but his strong alignment to a certain tactical style, namely using a back three, raised concerns over whether he would fit with the Reds' squad. It is one of the main reasons why he was never offered the job, along with the fact that Slot was deemed the outstanding candidate.

Hiring Amorim would have meant starting all over again, when Liverpool already had a winning formula. It was a risk they did not need to take. After all, the Reds were in the thick of the title race last season until April, when injuries destroyed their bid.

By contrast, Amorim's clear vision and charismatic personality understandably appealed to United after enduring their worst-ever season in the Premier League and making a miserable start to this campaign. They needed a fresh start, but they are finding out the hard way that their squad does also not fit with Amorim's style, which relies on energetic midfielders and highly athletic wing-backs.

The current squad's incompatibility with Amorim's style of play was laid bare in the lifeless first-half performance against Newcastle, when the midfield was comprised of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro, each aged 32. Joshua Zirkzee doesn't have the pace or technical ability to play as one of the narrow wingers behind Rasmus Hojlund, and Noussair Mazraoui, deployed as wing-back, didn't know whether to defend or attack and ended up doing neither.

Watching United toil against Newcastle, it was easy to understand why Ten Hag abandoned the positional play from his years with Ajax and geared his team around counter-attacking and exploiting the pace of both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho. Neither, though, fits into Amorim's style of play.

Only Diogo Dalot, Amad Diallo and Harry Maguire seem like natural fits for the way Amorim wishes his team to play.

For Amorim to be a success, he needs money to purchase the right players and time to put his ideas into practice. At the moment, however, he has neither.

United are dangerously close to their Financial Fair Play limits and co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making cutbacks at every level, which is making for a toxic atmosphere around the club. Amorim has admitted they can only do business in January if they sell players. The coach insists he needs more time to "sell my idea", but he has scant training sessions due to playing twice per week.

For the first time in his short tenure he now has time on the training ground, with six days after Newcastle to prepare for the Liverpool game and then seven days before facing Arsenal in the FA Cup. But then the grind of two games per week returns, with United playing seven matches in the space of 21 days until the start of February.

Amorim acknowledged in his first press conference that you get no time at a big club and you need results now. And his side need results urgently as they drift closer and closer towards an unthinkable battle with relegation.

It is difficult to see how things improve while Amorim remains wedded to his style of play. After the Newcastle defeat, the coach was asked why he didn't opt for a more pragmatic approach in the wake of so many defeats.

He responded: "If I change all the time it is going to be even worse. But I understand they have a lot of difficulties because they spent two years playing one way. You can feel it, I can feel it but I have to sell my idea, I don’t have another one. If I know for sure changing everything is going to get us near to win games, I will do it. When you have a change of coach, especially in this type of club, it is because they were not winning. They play in the system they were bought for and were losing. This team was already in problems."

That may be true, but the team are in far bigger problems now. And the situation is likely to get much worse as United face trips to Anfield and the Emirates Stadium in their next two games. The Red Devils are already on their worst run of defeats since 1961 after losing four games in a row and it is easy to see it becoming six over the next fortnight.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are on their best run of results since they won the title in 2019-20. There are parallels between Sunday's fixture and when they hosted United in January 2020, winning 2-0 to move 16 points clear at the top of the table and 30 points above United. Victory on Sunday would take them 26 points above their arch rivals and a step closer to equalling United's record 20 English league title wins.

But whatever happens at Anfield will not change the fact that Liverpool did the right thing by picking Slot over Amorim. The Dutchman has made a daunting transition appear seamless and rather than being in Klopp’s shadow, he is emulating him.

Amorim, meanwhile, has a clear plan for United, but none of the tools he needs to help him get there.