The word “perch” has assumed an exalted status in the football lexicon.
Look it up and it’s “a thing on which a bird alights or roosts”, and it can be “precarious”.
But the way Sir Alex Ferguson famously used it in relation to Liverpool, the timescale was a lot less fleeting, the “thing” a lot more solid.
He was talking about dynasties and a change in the balance of power, which, after 26 years in the wilderness, his Manchester United finally achieved.
The word cropped up again this week as a very different United – thanks to a lucky deflection at Burnley – “knocked Liverpool off their perch” once again, according to the media.
If the headline was irresistible, the circumstances were vastly different – a momentary lead in mid-season.
But with two clashes over the next week – one in the league at Anfield and the other in the FA Cup at Old Trafford – the Devils’ sudden “ascendancy” over the Reds may well be seen as no more than transitory.
It hasn’t stopped them from talking the talk though. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claimed: “We couldn’t have asked for a better time to play them because we are in great shape and good form.
“These boys are hungry and they want to get better. It’s another test of our character and quality.”
Midfielder Nemanja Matic added: “We have played 17 games [and] we are top of the table. That shows something. We didn’t play five or six games and you can say maybe it’s lucky. But after 17 games, definitely it is not luck, definitely there is quality.”
And then there’s Paul Pogba who said after the Burnley game: “We knew if we won tonight, we would be top of the league when we play Liverpool.
“We have to keep calm, now it is the big moment. We will see what is going to happen.”
To be fair, United are on more than a roll. Back in November, they were down in 15th place with calls for Mauricio Pochettino to replace Solskjaer becoming ever more shrill on the United talk boards.
This was after they’d managed to get knocked out of the Champions League from an unassailable position.
But now, in mid-January, they’re unbeaten on the road for a year in the Premier League.
Before they get too carried away, it might be advisable for them to recall the last defeat – at Anfield a year ago.
Goals from Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah left them 30 points behind Jurgen Klopp’s side on that occasion.
It was only two-nil but the difference in class wasn’t a gulf, it was an ocean. United couldn’t get the ball for long periods as Liverpool toyed with them.
It was the game when Liverpool knew that they were on their way to reclaiming their perch if another Champions League title hadn’t already done so.
So, for United to be thinking they can get something on Sunday is not just a turnaround, it suggests something has come off its axis.
Sure enough, their confidence is not entirely down to their own efforts: the champions are not the irresistible force they were.
A scarcely believable run of injuries has inevitably slowed the triumphant march.
And although Klopp has mixed and matched as best he can – Liverpool have overcome adversity in their DNA – they’re not the all-conquering machine of a year ago.
But they do have the front three that will terrorise any defence let alone United’s. They have an emerging star in Curtis Jones and defenders who have done well enough for them to resist spending in this month’s transfer window.
That in itself is a massive statement and vote of confidence in the current squad.
Director of Football, Michael Edwards, will have dozens of potential recruits on his database, but unless there’s a standout at the right price – as Diogo Jota was – they’ll rely on what they’ve got.
It’s so different to the scattergun policy of United who still need a central defender and a leftback.
With two meetings in quick succession, both clubs have the chance to ruin the other’s season. Which is why – should there be a winner on Monday (00.30am in Malaysia) – the FA Cup game, ironically, could be the more frantic of the two.
Another irony is that United’s upturn has come since Pogba’s agent made the call for his client to leave. The Frenchman finally seems to have awoken from his slumbers.
United are the form team but, as the saying goes, form is temporary, but class is permanent. And they’ve had more than their share of penalties and favourable deflections to help them on their way.
To claim anything more than squatter’s rights, they still have a long way to go to be compared to the best team in Europe for the past three seasons.
Klopp’s men reached two successive Champions League finals while this year United couldn’t make it out of the group stage. The Reds won the EPL title by a record 18 points and notched 97 points in the near-miss season before that.
If Solskjaer’s boys do the business, it would make a statement and may force Liverpool into a rethink about the need for reinforcements.
But if Liverpool, who will be out to put the Devils back in their box, show their true class, all United will have done is alighted on something precarious during a flight of fancy.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.