Liverpool battered Manchester United on Sunday. Truth be told the score-line was not a fair reflection of the balance of play. United had many nearly-men on the pitch while Liverpool had 11 warriors. Liverpool actually dominated the game much more than in their 1-4 thrashing of United at Old Trafford.
Make no mistake, I would much rather be in the position that United are in the league than we are, and it's still only three points, however, this was the best day of our season so far. Yes, United were missing their preferred central defender pairing however Liverpool were without two of our four preferred defenders in Kelly and Agger. Then Aurelio was forced off after 20 minutes, however it's hard to count him as he is injured more times than he isn’t. Once I saw that Carrick, Scholes and Giggs were in their side I felt we had a chance as pace is what really hurts us. Those three don't really have that. Of course anytime Berbatov or Nani picked the ball I was a bit nervous!
Berbatov almost scored, after Liverpool had two glorious chances to go in front but his shot hit the outside of his post with Reina beaten. Once it hit the post I thought perhaps it is our day and it was. Suarez, who was the stand-out in a team of stand outs twisted and jinked in the box, as no United players could touch him and he put the ball through EVS legs, only for our Dutchmen to blast the ball in from 6 inches. Anfield roared them on and just minutes later, after a woeful back header by Nani, Kuyt made it two. With moments to go before half-time Carragher made a rash challenge on Nani which forced him off the field. Carragher was very lucky to stay on and personally I think it was a bit of retribution tackle for the way Nani threw himself around the pitch in the Old Trafford clash earlier this season. Rafael then completely left the ground and went for Lucas, again he was very lucky to stay on the pitch, but this was exactly what United needed to do, which was to try and upset Liverpool's focus.
It almost worked as we suffered our worst spell at the start of the second half with United playing a bit better. Of course, they were aided by some dodgy decisions around the box but every free-kick they took they wasted, none worse than the one that hit Brown who was about 4 yards from the free kick. The worst decision is when the ref allowed a challenge from Lucas on Rooney to continue, the next United man had the ball, the ref waived play on, he crossed the ball poorly and then he blew up for the foul. Terrible officiating.
Liverpool started to get back in control of the game and the tireless Kuyt was fouled about 25 yards from goal. Suarez bent it around the ball for ESV to parry into the path of Kuyt and he followed up the rebound from one yard to make it 3-0. Gerrard was very close twice, and Maxi missed a sitter. Andy Carroll was sent on and won his first header and also played a clever knock down to Kuyt who sailed over. Silly defending allowed United to pull one back in the 92nd minute but it was our day. The Kop was in full voice and it was fantastic to watch. United have lost two on the bounce but Arsenal have to start winning some games!
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