October 22, 1943
If Everton, with practically a scratch side, could beat Manchester United 6-1 at Goodison a month ago, and have since themselves twice been beaten by Liverpool, whist is likely to be the result when Manchester United visit Anfield to-morrow?
There are no prizes for the answer, which may not be as simple as it seems. You know as well as I do that these apparently elementary two-and-two football sums frequently tot up to anything but four, and while I expect Liverpool to add another victory to their growing list, they won’t find Manchester United as easy to scalp as previous results may indicate.
For one thing, United come with a slightly stronger side than they had at Goodison; secondly, the result of the Goodison game gave an entirely false idea of the visitors, who were much better than the score indicated. Their attack, excellent up to a point, only broke down through over-elaboration against Everton’s grand defence – in which Tommy Jones was superlative – while their defenders, after suffering a brief spam of jitters which allowed Everton to get five goals in fifteen minutes, later gave quite a fair display.
Liverpool will have to give of their best to make sure, but then they always do that. Their fighting spirit and fiery first-time shooting have been leading factors in their success this last couple of season, plus their solid and still improving defence, whose unchanged association has led to a grand all-round understanding in the rear departments.
The return of Welsh will bring more power to Liverpool’s elbow in attack, for the Charlton man is supreme in the art of drawing the opposing defence and slipping the ball through to an unmarked colleague. The Reds’ forward line will not be definitely chosen until just before the match. Shafto, home on leave, is included in the probables. Team from:
Liverpool: Alf Hobson, Jack Westby, Jeff Gulliver, Harry Kaye, Laurie Hughes, Jack Pilling, Berry Nieuwenhuys, Jack Campbell, Jack Balmer, John Shafto, Don Welsh, Cyril Done, Alf Hanson.
Manchester United: Jack Breedon, John Griffiths, George Roughton, Jack Warner, Billy Porter, Bert Whalley, Bill Bryant, Billy McKay, Jack Smith, Alf Bellis, Jack Macdonald.
(Source: Liverpool Echo: October 22, 1943; via http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) © 2018 Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited
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