The view from Old Trafford

What's the current mood at United?

We have started okay without playing particularly well. Some flashes of brilliance up front mixed with some worrying weakness at the back. Should make for an exciting season, if not necessarily a successful one, but we'll see. 

Who's your man in form?

Obviously Robin van Persie has started well but it's Shinji Kagawa who has caught the eye - very clever and inventive. I'd say he had a real football brain, if it wasn't such a cliché...

Any weak links?

Take your pick from anywhere in our defence. We've started the season with injuries somehow and it definitely cost us against Everton and could have done against Fulham and Southampton. Having said that, it's not all the defenders' fault - teams are getting through our midfield far too easily. We failed to sign the central midfield 'rock' that the team has needed for a couple of seasons now and I've a feeling it will cost us.

Liverpool player you'd like to sign?

Probably Agger. I liked the look of Kelly when he first came into the team and we could do with a good full-back but Agger is a quality centre-half who would improve any team. We'd need to get a scrubbing brush and white spirit on those knuckles, mind.

If you were United boss for the day...

It sounds trite, but I'd get 100 of the time-served home and away fans down to Carrington and make the players listen to their stories about the sacrifices they make to watch United week after week. I'd also stick Ryan Tunnicliffe straight into the first team to ensure we still have some local blood in there once Giggs and Scholes eventually hang up their boots. Then I'd spend the afternoon chasing Yaya Toure round Alderley Edge with a blank cheque...

It's the first Anfield game since the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report was released. How have developments been viewed among United fans?

I'm sure the vast majority of us who were around and going to matches in the 80s were not particularly surprised and welcomed the fact that the truth has come out. The families and their supporters deserve every credit for the fight they put up. There will always be a proper rivalry between United and Liverpool - and long may it continue - but Hillsborough transcends that. I remember being on the train from Warwick Road back into town that day and someone had an old transistor radio turned up as Peter Jones described the bodies being brought into the gymnasium. There was absolute silence and more than a few tears. It could easily have been us and we knew that. There will always be the odd idiot on both sides, but people not coming back from a football match is not something to score 'top fan' points about.

Score prediction?

2-2. We've not turned up at Anfield for a few seasons now and, given our recent form, I'm a bit pessimistic. It'll be an emotional day and it's difficult to know how it will affect both teams but I've got a feeling there will be more goals than usual.