Manchester United vs Liverpool (1-4) Analysis

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.

Champions League : Final 16 Review

English dominate as Italians fail

The final 16 saw holders Manchester United follow Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea into a Quarter Final draw which includes underdogs Villareal and Porto as well as attacking maestros Bayern Munich and Villareal. And don't forget, the draw is now open - meaning anyone can face anyone. We may at last see the dream re-match between Manchester United and Barcelona or we could even see a goalless extravaganza between Villareal and Liverpool (who would use more holding midfielders?)
The two teams who stood out most to me had to be Bayern Munich and Barcelona. They are the teams to avoid. Bayern, in my humble opinion, have the quickest, most incisive side in Europe. This, added to the quality of Ribery, Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Klose, Toni and Lahm, completes a phenomenally under-rated line-up.
Barcelona showed yesterday that they are something like their best again after a few stutter in La Liga. Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o are back to their explosive best and Lionel Messi (undoubtedly the greatest footballer of our time) will only get better. The vision and passing of Xavi and Iniesta is also aided by the attacking prowess of the now legendary full back Dani Alves.
Bayern and Barca are the teams to avoid in the final 8. Porto, Villareal and (dare I say) Arsenal are the teams you want to draw. The draw will be made on the 20th March.


Last 16 Highlights

Manchester United vs Inter Milan (2-0) (2-0 agg.)





Barcelona vs Lyon (5-2) (6-3 agg.)



Bayern Munich vs Sporting Lisbon (7-1) (12-1 agg.)



Roma vs Arsenal (1-0) (1-1 agg.)
(No highlights in 120 minutes. Penalties below)



Porto vs Atletico Madrid (0-0) (2-2 agg.)

(No highlights at all.)

Juventus vs Chelsea (2-2) (2-3 agg.)



Liverpool vs Real Madrid (4-0) (5-0)

Manchester United vs Fulham ; FA Cup Highlights, Draw

Manchester United put in another classy performance to shrug of Fulham 4-0 at Craven Cottage. Wayne Rooney and Ji-Sung Park killed the game off after two greatly contrasting first half goals from Carlos Tevez. Ronaldo, Scholes, Berbatov and Giggs were all rested - indicating Sir Alex has one eye on the upcoming Champions League 2nd leg with Inter Milan and another on Liverpool in a week's time. The only problems for Manchester United came in the form of injuries to Rio Ferdinand and John O'Shea. By all accounts, Ferdinand is 50/50 to make the midweek Champions League starting line-up and O'Shea is very unlikely. This leaves a problem in the right back position for United who are already missing Gary Neville,Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves and Rafael through injury. Saturday's game against Fulham saw young Richard Eckersley finish the game at right back - indicating just how desperate Ferguson is. Perhaps Fabio da Silva will be risked at right back - or maybe Darren Fletcher will be started out of position.

The good news for Manchester United today is that of the FA Cup draw. The Reds avoided both Chelsea and Arsenal/Hull, receiving a home draw vs. Everton.

Full FA Cup Semi-Final Draw

Arsenal/Hull v Chelsea
Man Utd v Everton

A London derby at Wembley looks an exciting proposition, but Hull stand in the Gunners' way. Manchester United fans can continue to dream of a 5 trophy clean sweep.

Catch highlights of all the FA Cup games.
Highlights to look out for;
- Louis Saha's dramatic winner vs 'Boro
- Carlos Tevez's wonder goal vs Fulham
- Eduardo's senational "beach goal" (Wenger's words) vs Burnley
- Drogba powering Hiddink's unbeaten run

Fulham vs Manchester United



Coventry vs Chelsea



Arsenal vs Burnley





Everton vs Middlesbrough

Manchester United vs Blackburn Highlights

Missed the game? Don't worry.

Premier League : Week In Review

Though a Manchester United fan, I'm growing increasingly fond of Rafael Benitez. In fact, he's officially "mug of the week" for pulling his two, for want of a better word, "best" players off during Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Wigan. After the match, Rafa stated they were "tired". You can draw you're own conclusions but with a title at stake club captain Steven Gerrard would probably have played through the pain.
The fun doesn't stop there though, equally incompetent Brazil nut Luis Felipe Scolari had Drogba on the bench for the most part against 'Boro and even risked starting Salomon Kalou. The latter risk payed dividends beyond belief as the (wrong) Ivorian put the ball in the net not once but twice. Two typical Chelsea set plays made the difference. Shocking.
The week got weirder. Emile Heskey scored.
Business continued as usual for both Arsenal and Manchester United - picking up a draw (1-1) and a win (5-0) respectively. The Gunners are unbeaten in 2009 and Arsene Wenger refuses to admit his side are out of the title race. Honestly. He put the 1-1 draw with Everton down as "a point gained". Sir Alex Ferguson got another one over on mind-game-maestro Rafael Benitez as the champions cruised home against 10 man West Brom (though the Robinson red card has since been overturned). The Red Devils were looking something like their best racking up an 11th successive clean sheet in the Premier League. A real testament to both Ferguson and van der Sar - making United's ever changing back 4 look rock solid.

Elsewhere, there were good wins for Villa and Man City - the Villains could move up to 2nd with Chelsea and Liverpool clashing in the "0-0 derby" on Sunday. ex-Fulham Bullard looked fairly bright for new side Hull - but his 2nd half appearance couldn't help Hull's relentless spiral continuing - their honeymoon start to Premier League life now seems a lifetime ago.

Big Weekend At The Top

It was all set to be a gung-ho Goliath vs Goliath occasion when news reached us that Sir Alex Ferguson had started the match with Cristiano Ronaldo (top goalscorer/player of the season) on the bench. Nemanja Vidic however did start - though he hardly played, subbed through injury after Didier Drigba kneed his mouth resulting in a tooth piercing the Serb's upper lip. Chelsea kept a tight hold of the game, and desrvedly took the lead in the first of the added minuites in the first half. The goal came as a surprise to nobody except the Manchester United defence, who failed to acknowledge Michael Ballack's aerial threat, allowing the German to cleverly head across the helpless Edwin van der Sar.

In the second half, an unchanged Manchester United cam out with more intent but less success in breaing down Chelsea. That was until a rushed defensive set piece caused Ricardo Carvalho to trick all his fellow defenders, and cleverly feed Wayne Rooney in one-on-one with Petr Cech. Rooney slotted home but was clearly in distress, and was soon subbed due to a suspected recurring hip injury. His replacement, Cristiano Ronaldo, could do little but watch as a shambolic Manchester United failed to string passes togeter. And Sir Alex's strange decision to play the final half hour of the came cam back to bite him in the behind when an 87th minuite Ballack penalty gave Chelsea the points they deserved. The penalty came as Michael Carrick left a hand out when attempting to deal with a harmless cross. The linesman was spot-on to give the spot-kick.

United fans will look back in anger at a result that could have been. Alex Ferguson's team selection will rightfully be criticised, and the fact that Manchester United ended the game with seven midfielders on the pitch is good support for those criticisms.

The Title race has once again been blown wide open, and you can read our review of where United are going lower down on this page.

Who will win the Premier League.....

In Case You Missed The Game, Check This Out....

Feels Like A Win For Manchester United?....

Surely, grabbing a goal in the last ten minuites of a game should have put Manchester United on an immediate high?
A crucial point was gained when Carlos Tevez nodded in late (88) for the Champions. The point means Man Utd can mathematically afford to lose at Stamford Bridge next week, and still win the Premier League due to their superior goal difference. On the other side, a win at the Bridge seals the title up once and for all.
Anyone who has seen the match will agree that Manchester United were unlucky to walk away with just the one point, and many look to Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel as the key to Blackburn's success. Still, the importance was clear on the face of captain Rio Ferdinand when Carlos Tevez ran to the United fans to celerbrate.
Manchester United fans may look to a bucket-load of horror decisions from Rob Styles for the frustrations which unfolded at Ewood Park, however the reality is much more sobering for followers of the Red half of Manchester. Wayne Rooney was lucky to recieve only the Yellow card he did after an early foul and a poor display of discipline. Later on in the game, Wayne Rooney limped off with a hip injury which many believed would rule him out of the mid-week clash at the Nou Camp in the Champions League. The latest from the club however is that he should be fit to play.
Overall, it was a bizzare night for Manchester United. They cannot lose site of the fact that a win in their next game will see them once again Champions of England. Sir Alex knows that these dropped points could de-moralise his team, despite the dramatic manner in which the one point was eventually salvaged from the fire, but United are in as good a situation as they were before Chelsea sqaured off with Wigan a week ago.
It must now be full steam ahead for Manchester United, who face the prospect of Chelsea in a Barcelona sandwhich.

In case you didn't catch the game, here are some highlights.



The Football Insight

Are These The Final Hammer Blows For London's Clubs?

On Sunday, Hargreaves....



Last Night, Heskey....



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