Long-ball Liverpool Lucky As Title Race Heats Up
"Manchester United were destroyed by Liverpool". That's what the score line suggests anyway. The truth of the matter is this was an evenly fought game in which the rub of the green and the bounce of the ball almost literally made the difference.
Manchester United took the lead in the first half when Carlos Tevez poked a majestic through ball in to Ji-Sung Park in the Liverpool area. The South Korean got a touch of the ball, a heavy touch, and was never going to keep the ball in play. This doesn't change the fact the Pepe Reina clattered into Park late and fouled him. A penalty was the right decision and Ronaldo dispatched coolly.
Liverpool then secured a most unflattering equalizer. A clearance turned assist from the Liverpool defense bounced awkwardly for Nemanja Vidic after he opted against a first time header away. This let Fernando Torres steal the ball away from the usually rock solid Serb and slot smartly past van der Sar - although the big Dutchman did get a touch sending the ball perilously close to the far post.
No complaints about Liverpool's 2nd goal. A through ball to Steven Gerrard was misjudged by Patrice Evra who was forced to dive in recklessly from behind on the Liverpool captain conceding a sloppy penalty. Gerrard stepped up and placed the ball into his less preferred right hand side of the net van der Sar again getting a touch.
At half time, I was annoyed to have seen Rio Ferdinand booked for a nothing tackle and Mascherano and Lucas evade booking despite 3 or 4 rash challenges each. They say referees are judged on the big decisions they make, I think Alan Wiley allowed the Liverpool holding midfielders to break up United attacks on many occasions - more of then not illegally. This took the fluidity out of the Champions game and never really allowed Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez to find their rhythm.
Manchester United began turning the screw in the second half and looked like they could secure a big draw. Skrtel and Mascherano had joined Carragher in Wiley's yellow card book and the Old Trafford crowd were coming alive. Liverpool still posed threats on the break through the pace of Torres but never really looked like scoring again. Sir Alex Ferguson brought on the experienced trio of Scholes, Giggs and Berbatov for Park, Carrick and Anderson but within minuites United were on ten men. Nemanja Vidic was adjudged to be the last man when he brough down Steven Gerrard just outside the United penalty area. At the time it looked like the right decision and I've seen nothing to change my mind since.
The worse was still to come for Manchester United as Fabio Aurelio stepped up to dispatch the free kick beautifully - van der Sar left rooted to the spot. It was an unstoppable strike but I can't help thinking United's keeper got his wall placing all wrong. Aurelio's ability to find the top corner rendered his wall's jumping useless and meant 25% of the goal was an open target. Perhaps United weren't aware of Aurelio's set piece abilities and had only prepared for Gerrard's free kicks?
The final insult to injury was added by Dossena in the 90th minuite when he elegantly looped a long ball over the advancing van der Sar with his first touch. The Italian rounded of a performance engineered solely towards winning a football match, neglecting the fluidity of football.
But the Liverpool fans seemed overjoyed with their long ball football and seemed to enjoy winning ugly.
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