Will Manchester United dare use their new attacking system in the Anfield cauldron? Danny Higginbotham

INSIDE FOOTBALL: Superior possession actually tends to bring defeat according to the statistics

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal (Getty Images)

Well, some people might say that Manchester United’s 3-3 draw on Tyneside this week puts them in a state of even deeper crisis ahead of the trip to Anfield – the most eye-catching match of the weekend as that fixture invariably is. But while losing a lead twice, as Louis van Gaal’s players did in the North-east, is not desirable – and conceding three goals even less so – I would argue most strongly that there were signs of something very promising in United’s performance at St James’ Park. I would go as far as to say that I would rather United have played as they did and only drawn than play the way they had been and come away with a 1-0 win.

The way they set up on Tuesday night proved that Van Gaal does have a way of setting up his side which is not all about possession. Perhaps he was responding to the public criticism of his side’s drab 1-0 win over Sheffield United. Who knows? It’s impossible to understand what’s actually going on in his mind. But whatever the reason, the penny dropped – for 90 minutes at least – that superior possession does not equate to victory. Tuesday night brought United’s lowest possession count of the season, and what flowed from it – their first three-goal haul since their win at Goodison Park in October, where they recorded their third lowest possession count of the season.

Did you know that superior possession actually tends to bring defeat? After Wednesday night’s fixtures took every side to 21 games completed, the data showed that those teams which commanded greater possession in their games had collectively won 74 of them, while those with less possession collectively won 73 of them (a further three games have been won with possession percentages at 50/50 for each side). So, we can see that there’s only the slightest advantage to commanding more of the ball. And though I’m totally against possession statistics as a measure of a team – it’s not how much ball you have but what you do with it – they reveal that United scored seven goals in the three games in which they commanded less possession and only two goals in the three games in which they commanded most.

This is no coincidence. When Van Gaal is playing his possession game, United find themselves with no forward options after winning the ball in their own half and therefore unable to play a forward pass. What we saw on Tuesday was a system in which goals came before possession. And what was the key which unlocked it? Doing something we have been arguing for in this column for weeks: getting runners in behind Wayne Rooney, in a way which allowed United to capitalise on his ability as the finest British centre-forward with his back to goal.

As we have examined here before in recent weeks, a successful side generally needs the focus of its attack to be either the quickest forward, possessing the pace to stretch the defence, or the slowest, dropping deep to create for faster runners who bomb on beyond him and get around the defence. Rooney is not the quickest; he’ll be the first admit that. And that’s why it’s been baffling to see him as the most advanced player in the average position charts, week after week. If you are going to have Rooney as the front man, you need him as the provider, with pace to seize the opportunities on both sides of him.

Tuesday was different. With Juan Mata dropped in favour of Jesse Lingard, Rooney was the slowest of the front four, dropping deep to wonderful effect as he supplied the runners going beyond him. His intuition as he supplied Lingard for United’s second goal was superb; an excellent riposte to those with very short memories who seem to have felt happy to attack him on social media and elsewhere. I stand 100 per cent behind what I have said about Rooney: United have simply not been deploying him correctly and that is not his fault.

Of course, Newcastle then came back into the game. But though Van Gaal has been getting a kicking for that, two of the home side’s goals came from individual defensive errors and the manager can hardly be blamed for that. You can coach players as much as you want but you can’t legislate for individual mistakes.

If United play a more attacking game, then yes, of course, the percentage possibility of them conceding more increases. But United fans will just have to live with that because scoring goals is, quite simply, more important than an ability to keep them out. You know that I am a staunch advocate of the importance of defensive qualities but in four of the last five Premier League seasons the highest scorers have won the title, while only twice have those who conceded fewest goals clinched it. You have to attach greater significance to the forwards.

It was a significant sign of the difference in United that against Newcastle they scored twice before any of their substitutes came on. No fewer than 12 of their 27 Premier League goals this season have been scored after a substitution was made. That tells us that they have had to try to change their game plan and become more positive when things are going awry. Anthony Martial’s debut arrival against Liverpool and Memphis Depay’s good display against Sheffield United both spring to mind.

The next requirement is to balance things up in that team. Perhaps they should have only one full-back advancing up the field at the same time and one out-and-out defensive midfielder who will protect the defence. There were times on Tuesday when neither Marouane Fellaini nor Morgan Schneiderlin was sitting. Someone like Michael Carrick, who has a big part to play in my opinion, would do that job well.

But we are at least seeing a side capable of playing in a way that suits their players. People have been saying that the United players are not good enough. With the greatest respect, that is rubbish. The personnel was not changed massively in midweek but we saw a different side. Now comes the $64,000 question: will United and their manager have enough faith in such a brand of football to take it into the Anfield cauldron Sunday afternoon?

Time will tell. It was Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp who said this week that the way a side plays is often more important than the result, and that certainly applies to the team on the coach bound for Merseyside.