Today is, for me, the most important football match of the whole season: Liverpool against Manchester United at Anfield!
Of course, year in year out, I blog about Liverpool being the most successful english football team and about how I’m sure that Liverpool will comprehensively beat Manchester United at Anfield. Except that I was right only for the first part. Liverpool is still the most successful team in England. But, unfortunately, since 2001-2002 where Liverpool won 3-1, my team lost against Manchester United at Anfield last year (0-1), in 2006-2007 (0-1 again), in 2004-2005 (0-1 once more), in 2003-2004 (1-2) and in 2002-2003 (1-2Â as well.) Liverpool only managed to draw 0-0 in 2005-2006.
So it seems the odds are against Liverpool winning today. Five defeats and one draw in the last six years do not look too good.
Reading the match reports reveal the main reason behind this run of defeats: terrible defensive mistakes which Manchester United players were quick to capitalise on. In 2002-2003, the match was even until “[Diego Forlans]’s 65th-minute opener came after an abysmal mistake by Jerzy Dudek in the Liverpool goal.” In 2003-2004, “[Ryan] Giggs’ wicked left-foot cross evaded [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy, but also deceived the diving [Jerzy] Dudek and flew into the far corner.” In 2004-2005, “[Jerzy] Dudek allowed Wayne Rooney’s tame 25-yard shot to slide in after 22 minutes to gift the former Everton striker a goal in front of The Kop.” In 2006-2007, “substitute [John] O’Shea pounced after Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina fumbled Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick.” Last year, “[Carlos] Tevez was lurking to turn in Wayne Rooney’s driven shot from a Ryan Giggs corner three minutes before half-time.”
Three mistakes by Jerzy Dudek. One by Pepe Reina. And, last year, a goal from an unmarked player during a corner kick.
Apart from those dreadful moments, the matches have been fairly even as can be seen in the one goal differences. Liverpool was unlucky at least once or twice in the sense that they dominated the game but lost because of one terrible mistake. But losing is losing. Manchester United has won five times during the past six years and this is a fact.
So why do I think that Liverpool will win today?
At least for two reasons. First, I am a Liverpool fan and I can’t be rational today. Manchester United is THE enemy and every single drop of blood in me wants Liverpool to win. Call it blindness. I call it passion.
The second reason is that Rafael Benitez knows that Liverpool’s failure to win over Manchester United at Anfield was mostly because of defensive errors. I’m sure he has worked on that part a lot with the players. Liverpool has an excellent defense and, with Javier Mascherano, a world-class defensive midfielder. Defense also starts from the front and Fernando Torres, Robbie Keane, Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard have enormous work rates. I’m, of course, assuming that Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are starting today but they are our two best players and can be rested later…
My prediction for today’s match is 2-0 for Liverpool.
An update:
I was wrong. So wrong. And I apologize. Liverpool only won by 2-1 :-)
The beauty of the match was that both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres started on the bench. Liverpool managed to completely outplay Manchester United during the second half. Once more, Robbie Keane failed to score but he worked a lot. I was impressed with Albert Riera. He was first-class today and his dribbling mesmerized the Manchester United defenders. His crossing and physical presence were also very good.
I watched the match with my father (who is a die-hard Manchester United fan) and I was telling him that the big difference between Liverpool and Manchester United was the price Liverpool could buy players. For instance, the $9m Dirk Kuyt has a bad first touch compared to the $31m Dimitar Berbatov but the only way to mitigate that is to buy more expensive players…
The best thing that can happen now (following the massive influx in money at Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City) would be that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, finally buys Liverpool and injects the cash which is needed to compete at the very top every season.
whatever… screw mbc -_- i heard they are not broadcasting the match
You were very close in predicting the score :-)
I know. And I apologize :-)
More seriously, I thought that Liverpool (without Gerrard and Torres) managed to completely nullify Manchester United during the second half (I don’t count Gerrard because he was obviously still recovering.)
I am impressed by Albert Riera. I believe that he had an excellent match today against Wes Brown. He will be a massive success at Liverpool :-)
Robbie Keane missed the ball at least twice again though… I guess I need to be patient. Fortunately, this is easy when your beloved team has just beaten the “great” Manchester United team :-)
I am so happy :-) It’s been a while since we beat Manchester United. I was pleased to see the players pressing high, which is something they did not do in the past. The presence of Riera has a lot to do with the own goal. Keane did not score, but worked a lot on the pitch, same can be said of Kuyt.
In short, I think Liverpool deserved to win. Every Liverpool players on the pitch worked hard. They did not give up, even when some of the balls seemed “lost.”
Avinash, how come your father is a Manchester United fan, and you are a Liverpool fan? Usually, it runs in the family. Everyone in my family is a Liverpool fan, except for one brother who is not interested in football. That being said, I know someone from MCCI Centre for business studies (maybe you know him too) who is a Manchester United whereas his son is a Liverpool fan. He was a Sunrise SC fan, but his son was a Fire Brigade fan :-)
The funny thing is my wife, and her father are both Manchester United fan…you can imagine the mess I was into for some time.
Benitez must be happy to finally beat Manchester United in a league match. Under Houllier Liverpool had a very good record against United.
Liverpool just won a battle… not the war… which they’ve been losing since the past 18 years…. LOL :P
To Patrick:
Tough question. In fact, both my father and little brother are ManU fan so you can imagine the “problems” we had when we living together :-)
As far as I remember, I became a Liverpool fan in 1986 (I was 13) during Liverpool’s win by 3-1 over Everton during the FA Cup Final and I’ve not looked back since…
Interestingly, I did not watch football a lot at that time because, well, there was no satellite TV. From 1993 to 1998, I did not watch English football at all because I was in France where no matches were being broadcasted. I therefore missed the whole Fowler era. But I followed my team reading newspapers and the primitive web that existed at that time…
I resumed watching matches when I returned to Mauritius in 1998. I noticed that my little brother had become a ManU fan (I can’t blame him though as ManU were really successful by then…) As for my dad, I think he changed teams every 15-20 years. He was a Liverpool fan before. Maybe he’ll become a Manchester City fan in a few years :-)
To carrotmadman6:
It’s not war. It’s sports.
b Man U tou les temp commencement li perdi meme li.. mai what counts is in the end, it wins :p .. its like giving an advantage to the weak ones so as the competition can have a taste.. hahahaha
Competition? I thought all ManU fans believe that there is only one football team on the planet? You’re maturing!
6years for manutd 1 day for liverpool fc ^^
i guess thats why liverpool fc fans are so happy XD
To carrotmadman6:
Didn’t Manchester United fans wait for 25 years before winning the league again? 18 years don’t seem that bad :-)
I’m not saying we’ll win the league. There’s still a long way to go. But, it’s the first time since Benitez took over as manager that Liverpool won against Manchester United in the League. The last previous two meetings at Anfield were lost because of one mistake, not because they were playing bad.
To Avinash:
Your dad is a smart guy: Go with the flow.
I must say that liverpool truely deserved the win as they played very good football and mascherano alias the machine was superb :) along with Xabi alonso. one point is that kuyt and keane plays very well infront compared to torres/keane
Liverpool supporters, enjoy the moment and bask in the glory!
Liverpool beating another Top 4 team doesn’t happen very often.
You talk about Torres missing the game, Utd missed the best player in the world, Ronaldo!
Concerning Gerrard, United lost Carrick at the break and that changed everything!
Anyway, Liverpool seems to be better than last season – I guess that the race for the 3rd place in the EPL will be very tough this year! Arsenal FTW!
The funny thing with Manchester United fans is that they always fail to understand why they lost. Liverpool simply played better football on that day especially during the second half. Manchester United was utterly crap. This is what Ferguson thinks and who am I to argue…
To Ajay:
I never use injured or suspended players as an excuse. There is a reason why each team has a big squad.
To Avinash:
Yes, despite what Ferguson and Ferdinand have said, some United fans still don’t understand why they lost. I am not happy just because Liverpool beat United after a long time, but mostly because they played way better than their previous games since the beginning of the season.
I think Manchester Utd supporters should better stop whining about so and so was injured, somebody else was taken off for injury. If that is so, what about Chelsea facing so many injuries last season (Cech, Ballack, Essien, Terry, Carvalho, etc) yet challenging a one-man team like Man Utd (Ronaldo seems to be that chap :)) till the last day of the season.
What about Arsenal facing a ‘cascade de blessures’ in January this year which largely contributed to their own demise? A team, whatever happens to their players should be prepared to field their best squad possible & be able to cope with whatever adversely affects them.
Btw, the fixture read ‘Liverpool vs manchester Utd’, NOT ‘Liverpool (without Gerrard & Torres) vs Machester Utd (without its megastar Ronaldo, without Carrick for the 2nd half, etc)’. :D
LOL!
BlueBerry, if you are referring to my post then you are way off the mark!
I was not ‘whining’ at all. I was just responding to this comment from Avinash:
More seriously, I thought that Liverpool (without Gerrard and Torres) managed to completely nullify Manchester United during the second half (I don’t count Gerrard because he was obviously still recovering.)
He brought up the injured/missing players issue first.
Anyway, some banter between opposing fans is not bad for health. :)
I agree with you that team depth is very important.
Looking at the way Manchester United played, I find it more accurate to say that Manchester United lost rather than Liverpool won. The United players were barely present on the pitch. Had Liverpool been such a good team, it should have won by a much larger margin, rather than counting on an own goal and an amateurish-level mistake from Giggs.
Ok, to be fair, a victory is a victory. Fine. But as I say, “It took them seven years to outwit us, and that too only through mercy (an own goal and a glitch) on our part, and yet they dare be proud… Petty thoughts of a petty team….”
Coming back to the 18 titles. Liverpool won’t make it to the 19. This season it will be either Manchester United (NEVER WRITE OFF UNITED) or Chelsea. And next season, it will be, again, as it has always been for the last two decades or so, only with Manchester City in.
This comment is so pathetic it becomes funny :-)
The best part is “I find it more accurate to say that Manchester United lost rather than Liverpool won.” No dignity at all. Fluxy, you should learn to lose honorably.
The second best part is writing that Liverpool is “a petty team” and in the same paragraph referring to Liverpool’s record 18 First Division titles. Fluxy, you need to make up your mind: is Liverpool “petty” or the most successful football club in England?
In fact, Fluxy is the stereotypical recent Manchester United fan: he is a glory hunter, he has absolutely no respect for adversaries and he has a limited knowledge of the history and dynamics of football (I guess he does not know (or forgot) that Manchester United fans (the real ones, not the prawn eaters) waited 26 years before winning the league in 1992-1993.)
I guess he’ll be among the first to “convert” to Manchester City fanatism if ever this club becomes the “biggest club in the world” (whatever this means.)
Well what I mean is the victory that you have earned is not so glorious, since the great team (speaking of the current state of things) that you claim to be barely managed to squeeze 2 goals (out of which one is an o.g) from United while the latter was mostly absent from the match.
Sure Liverpool has won, no problem with that, but a better team would have definitely done better. So yes, United has lost, liverpool has won, but do you really have to make such a big deal out of it? Beat united under less unfavorable circumstances, and I will admit that Liverpool is a very good team, else, it is just a team that has managed to squeeze a victory out of United when it has been going through bad times. Nothing overly glorious with that.
“Fluxy, you need to make up your mind: is Liverpool “petty†or the most successful football club in England?”
Ok, I admit, liverpool ain’t really “petty” but you do certainly speak more (based on history) than you can presently deliver.
As for being a “stereotypical recent Manchester United fan” and a “glory hunter” and “absolutely no respect for adversaries”:
I do have respect for adversaries and I do accept defeat “honorably” as well as giving credit where is deserved. While liverpool deserves credit for its victory, it is not as much as Liverpool fans pretend given the performance of Man Utd. I mean barely managing to outwit a team with minimal presence in a game, is it that much of a feat?
And no, I am not a glory hunter, just someone who appreciates good football, and Manchester United for having been and still being able to maintain such a high standard amidst changing paradigms, including Capitalism.
“I guess he’ll be among the first to “convert†to Manchester City fanatism if ever this club becomes the “biggest club in the world†(whatever this means.)”
As much as I admire good teams (performance not history) and appreciate good football, I remain a United fan, always was and always will be.
Some people have a hard time accepting defeat. The last time I checked, mistakes and own goals were part of the game :-)
“You’ve got to learn to survive a defeat. That’s when you develop character.â€
— Richard M. Nixon (controversial guy but great quote…)
meh, Arsenal pou ggn la ligue en tou le cas, en plus de champions league
arsenal pou ggn tripler sa lanee la, pa fr difference pou nou sa :D