Well...what started in flashy brilliant style turned into a sour saga in the end for Man United at Anfield. They conceded their first defeat to arch rivals liverpool in 4 years. What more, it was the first time Rafa Benitez got the better of Sir Alex Ferguson!United hadn't played any league matches for 2 weeks, courtesy of the Uefa Super Cup and the International break. But something quite momentous had transpired in between - Sir Alex's prime transfer target Dimitar Berbatov had been swooped in sensational albeit controversial fashion. With a target man finally inducted into the team, the gaffer had a big decision to make - what would the formation be and who would partner Berbatov in case of a 4-4-2. He went with the safe option of having Tevez partner the big Bulgarian (he probably wanted to be fair to Tevez as he'd been putting up good displays lately) and have Rooney play wide right (he'd played wide quite a few times last year). He also had Anderson play wide on the left. So it was quite a strike force Liverpool were up against. It certainly showed when the match got off to it's start, in frantic fashion. United looked like they were out for an outright win. Berbatov had a shot on goal off his first touch! But it was blocked by Skirtel. And just in the 3rd minute we had a goal scored! And it had Berbatov's signature on it - he outsmarted his markers to put Tevez free in front of the goal and Tevez didn't disappoint any of us -the brilliant move had been started by Anderson. And for about 20 minutes or so, United seemed like they would steamroll Liverpool at in their own home.
Liverpool started to give it back to United almost immediately. They came scintillatingly close to scoring when Edwin Van der Saar almost gifted them a goal but recovered to make a good save off a Kuyt shot. But the next time he made a mistake, something he's getting used to of late I must say, he wasn't that lucky. Alonso's shot deflected off Evra and ballooned somewhat dangerously inside United's box, which VDS made a hash off, trying to push it away while he should only have collected it. He inturn pushed it straight into Browne's path, who had no time to react leading to an own goal. A huge stroke of luck for the Reds and that equalizer spurred them up like nothing else could. From then on, Liverpool looked miles apart. Remember they didn't have their two talismans - Torres and skipper Gerrard. Yet they were putting up a good show. Another reason the game changed after the equalizer was Carrick's affliction with a leg injury which kept him limping almost for the most of the first half and had to be substituted.
It was even stevens at half time both in terms of goals scored and quality delivered.
Second half saw an even more inspired show from Scousers. Their midfield duo of Alonso and Mascherano began to dominate. And on the wide left, the combination of Riera and Aurelio was outwitting their United counterparts. Liverpool were playing by far the more dominant game.
But they weren't quite able to convert that into a goal for a long time.
After around 70 they did get the goal they deserved although this time again it was through United's carelessness. Ryan Giggs, of all people, tried to be too cute when he should have conceded a safe corner and in turn lost the ball to Kuyt who fed it to Ryan Babel, a second half substitute. Babel though mis-kicked the ball and yet found the net as the ball bounced luckily for him, over United's twin center halves! So a bit of luck and some indecision from United gifted liverpool a valuable lead. United kept pressing from then on for an equalizer. But they didn't really come too close - excepting a brilliant volley from Giggs which was just about kept out by Reina. Infact, Unied looked more and more jaded with time ticking away. As the match was closing to an end, United's eagerness to change the scenario cost them a player. Namanja Vidic went for a harsh tackle in the air with Alonso and found himself at the mercy of the referee who had no other option but to give a second yellow and hence had to leave the field. That pretty much closed the doors for United. Liverpool in the end came out the deserved winners - albeit with a lot of luck helping them get the two goals they ended up scoring.
If you look at it, Liverpool were quite fortunate to get their first win against their traditional rivals, for a long time. Consider this - an own goal, a red card, an injury to the main midfielder (Carrick), make-shift wingers (Anderson and Rooney), an lucky bump ball getting a goal - all of these contributed to Liverpool to get their victory. Probably it's that tough to beat United! Yet as far as the quality of the game goes, Liverpool did produce the better quality of football after a a spirited start by the Red Devils. I must say though that I hated the sight of Rooney playing wide. He wasn't effective playing on the wings yesterday at all and I hope this was just an experiment by Sir Alex. The idea of playing him wide just to accommodate him in the team was pretty wrong according to me - You either play him upfront or bring him on in the second half. We want him running through defenses creating havoc than doing the retrieving job in the middle or at the back. I hope things change once Ronaldo returns. It's Stamford Bridge next and United can ill-afford dropping more points there. Or theyll be left doing the catching up job for most of the season! Hopefully sanity will soon return to our proceedings.
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