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Manchester United look to be in free fall again after that memorable fightback against Liverpool in the FA Cup in March.
Fortunately for them, the form book goes out of the window for a derby so a league game against their fierce rivals could be exactly what they need to get back into form.
United face Liverpool on Sunday to claw back some momentum lost after two dispiriting results vs Brentford and Chelsea.
Players and Erik Ten Hag will decide what they want to do on the pitch to get a positive result but the manager has urged fans to avoid doing one thing in the stands.
In his programme notes ahead of the game, Ten Hag said fans should refrain from chanting about tragedies involving Liverpool.
The fixture between these two sides has always been one of the most intense games in English football and sets of fans from both cross the line sometimes.
For Liverpool, it is chanting about the Munich air disaster and for United fans, it is about the Hillsborough or Heysel tragedy, among others.
Countless fans and in the case of the Munich air disaster, players and staff lost their lives in these incidents and the police regularly take action against those who use these tragedies as a stick to beat the rival fans with.
The Greater Manchester Police also had to intervene in the FA Cup fixture in March and arrests were made in relation to tragedy chanting.
Below are Ten Hag’s comments in full on the issue:
“It is part of my duty to remind every supporter fortunate enough to be at today’s game that it must be enjoyed in the proper way, and not used as an excuse for abusing rival fans about Hillsborough, Heysel or any other historic tragedies.
“This is one of the truly great rivalries in world sport, for so many of the right reasons, and it is our responsibility to keep it that way.”
Jurgen Klopp has sent a similar plea to Liverpool fans and the authorities will no doubt be keeping an eye to curb incidents like these.
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