Man United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted he hopes for his side to one day be in the position of Liverpool at this very moment.
The Reds were crowned champions of the world on Saturday after defeating Flamengo 1-0 in the Club World Cup final.
And looking ahead to his team's Boxing Day encounter with Newcastle United, Solskjaer made the Liverpool admission.
"We're halfway through the season," he said. "We knew this season was going to be a season of some ups and downs and this season will be used to find the team and the squad for next season.
"But, hopefully, if we can speed this process up by getting more results, I expect us to be more consistent, definitely more experienced and learning from these setbacks.
Follow all the latest Liverpool news and transfers HERE
"At the moment we're a little bit further behind than I was hoping for."
United were defeated 2-0 away to bottom of the table Watford on Sunday, and Solskjaer is keen to replicate Liverpool.
"We want to be a team that can go and dominate teams and break teams down," the Old Trafford boss said.
"It's taken Liverpool a few years to get to that place and we need to keep on building, because that's where we want to get to.
"Yes, we're good at counter-attacking, yes, we've got pace, fast players, we should always keep that because that's in our transition. Now we need to be better at breaking lower blocks.
"We created loads of chances [against Watford] towards the end, but every time we lose it, there's a counter-attack, so we need to lock it down more and be better at stopping the counter-attacks.
"That's where this team is going to learn and grow and I'm sure that we'll see an improvement over this season and hopefully for next year."
United are currently 24 points off the pace of league leaders Liverpool, with the two sides set to meet at Anfield on January 19.
