Friday 30th October 2009
Chelsea were not the biggest winners last weekend, it was Liverpool.
Carlo Ancelotti's side may have reclaimed top spot in the league but Liverpool grabbed a morale-boosting win over arch-rivals Manchester United.
Liverpool really needed to win that game. If they hadn't, they would have been out of the title race. I think the season starts here for the Anfield side.
Everything went right for Liverpool. They pressured, they worked hard and they deserved to win. It's not just about Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun or Jamie Carragher, everyone played well for Liverpool.
They played five across the field with Benayoun in the Steven Gerrard role. Although I can see Benayoun moving to the left-hand side once Gerrard returns from injury, that's not a slight on Benayoun. He deserves to be in the first-team on merit and be a key player for Liverpool.
United, as a whole, were very poor at Anfield. There was a number of reasons why United struggled.
Firstly, Ryan Giggs has not played on the left-hand side for a long, long time and I think he can't play there any more.
Secondly, They have lost that little bit of spark even though Wayne Rooney came back into the first team. Rooney just couldn't do anything about it. Liverpool were too dominant and they isolated Rooney well. United didn't play well but it was down to Liverpool who didn't allow them to play at all.
Thirdly, they missed Darren Fletcher and I think he is an important component in United's first eleven. Park Ji-Sung also did not play. I think they are important players for United in the big games. With all the flair players in the United team, you really need hard-working footballers in there to help balance the team.
And lastly, I'm never convinced by a midfield consisting of Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick. They never looked comfortable together. I think they are too similar in the way that they sit in front of the back four and dictate play from there.
I also think referee Andre Marriner did fairly well in this game. He was right in not sending off Jamie Carragher. The ball was going away from the penalty area and Michael Owen was also going away from goal. It was never a red card offence. I also think the ref did well to reject Manchester United's claim for a penalty when Carragher clearly got the ball first. I don't think it was a penalty at all. It was a fantastic tackle on Carrick. It doesn't matter if another player was in the way. If you have got the ball, it's a good tackle.
I don't think it was right for Sir Alex Ferguson to blame the referee. As I often mentioned in my columns, Ferguson tend to blame everybody except himself and his team. There was nothing wrong with the referee's decisions. They were again excuses.
United can't complain about the referee because he should have given Nemanja Vidic a straight red card rather than a second yellow card. He's lucky he's just got a one match ban instead of three. Ferguson wasn't complaining about that, was he? And looking at how Rio Ferdinand is struggling defensively, they need Vidic even more to help shore up the defence.
Torres' opening goal was crucial for Liverpool as it gave them a lead to defend and forced United to come out more. People say Torres' goal is perhaps the most important goal scored for Liverpool this season. I don't think so. It will only be crucial if Liverpool build on this victory. This is only three points. If you beat Stoke it's only three points. It's the same with United or any other club.
The thing about Liverpool is they have got to keep it going, what's the point of beating Manchester United if you then go to Fulham next week and lose?
It will be a tough, tough game at Craven Cottage. Hand on heart, I believe Liverpool can build on this if, and only if, they play with the same kind of commitment and intensity defending and going forward as they did against United.
I also think Manchester United will bounce back certainly against Blackburn at home. If it was a tougher game, then they might have a problem, but Blackburn are decimated by injuries and illnesses, so I don't think United will have any problems getting back to winning ways.
http://www.espnstar.com/opinion/columnists/column/item56309/Pretty much puts the game into perspective. And once again demostrates how sore United fans can be, going around blaming everyone except themselves.
And I would like to add, it wasn't that United was poor. It was that Liverpool outclassed them, all over the park.
