Man United’s only possible route to next season’s Champions League now rests exclusively through a top-four finish in the Premier League, which is currently looking unlikely with the team in sixth place with nine games left.
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Pallister was spotted in the away section at Anfield last week, as the Red Devils slipped to a 2-0 Europa League first-leg reverse against Liverpool. The Manchester side were outplayed by their rivals and have to overturn a 2-0 deficit to qualify into the next round.
“Our aim is to beat Liverpool and if we can do that with a two-goal difference without conceding, fantastic – then we have extra time and we have our home fans”.
“We played, I think, like Liverpool did play in their home match”, he added.
The first goal was scored by Daniel Sturridge through a penalty in the 20 minute, and then Firmino made it 2-0 in the 73 minute, and United lost the game.
Villarreal are also through after beating Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 on aggregate following a 0-0 draw in the second leg in Germany.
Souness, who won five League titles and three European Cups as a player at Anfield and also managed the club in the early 1990s, was in Belfast this afternoon as an ambassador for Euro2016 sponsors Carlsberg.
Louis van Gaal’s team were criticised for their lack of creativity in the opening game – they created chances on this occasion but were regularly wasteful inside the area.
United’s form, meanwhile, is heading in the other direction, with a run of four wins followed by successive losses to West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool, prior to the FA Cup quarter-final draw with West Ham. “They have a lot of impact on the pitch…we have to believe in it”.
The Red Devils do, though, have a famous history of bouncing back, and their manager is confident they can still progress to the quarter-finals.
“We could have the chance, that is the feeling in the dressing room”. We have to work really hard. In midfield, Marouane Fellaini plays, as does the experienced Michael Carrick.
“We can not go insane”, midfielder Ander Herrera warned on Wednesday.
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“I am very satisfied about the fans because the results what we have achieved this season are not the results the fans are thinking that we have to fulfil”, Van Gaal said. It speaks to the desperation around Old Trafford today that Herrera chose to avoid the subject of player quality nearly entirely.
