Manchester United 3 Liverpool 0
Brown 34, Ronaldo 78, Nani 81
As the scores had showed, Manchester United has shown to their arch-rivals of how to win the title. 3-0 didn't reflect fairly on the number of the home side has, it could have been more. Though being a die-heart Liverpool fan, I have to admit, Manchester United was a better team. With so much hope and excitement before the game, it turned out to be a nightmare in the end.
Away from home, against the defending champions, you can't afford to lose focus and make mistakes. They will punish you, which they did. You have to be strong defensively, working hard as a team and press the opposition. Unfortunately for Liverpool, in this game, small mistakes cost them dearly.
Pepe Reina, the reliable one at many occasions, made mistakes in the game which are so uncommon in his game. If you are off the goal-line, reaching for the ball, you got to make sure you got it. Otherwise, you are in deep shit. Many would have argued, he made some fantastic saves in the game.
Well, like what Ex-Liverpool boss, Gerald Houllier mentioned,
a good goalkeeper is not the number of saves he makes, it's the least mistakes he makes. I agreed with that phrase. People don't remember your wonderful saves when your team is losing. People would remember your mistakes and blunders. When he made those saves in Sunday's game, I felt that the damage has already been done.
Javier Mascherano.
Just totally lost it. Lost his cool. Lost his composure. Being a professional player like him, you can't afford to question the referee and just abandon the rest of the 10 players on the pitch. With a yellow card in you, you have to stay calm and play football. Yes, it's a high tension match. You are desperate to win especially with your arch rivals. However, that's no excuse for such a behaviour. Mascherano has to learn and I believe he did.
Don't worry Javier, I still like your style. :)
His sent off did play an important role. Liverpool's structure of the team has been changed and plan B has to be implemented. Against Manchester United at Old Trafford, playing with 11 men, it's difficult, let alone 10. It's just matter of time the home side would score more.
It just reminds me of the game few years back, with Sami Hyypia being sent off in the 1st minute by Mike Riley and we were 1-0 down since. The final score was 4-0. It was just almost the same situation, same feeling.
Ferguson is a very clever man. His words and mind games before the highly anticipated match paid off. I wouldn't blame the referee. Javier deserved to be off and Liverpool didn't play to their standards to get any points from the game. Talking about the referee, the respect and his experience in the game would never be matched.
He knew that this would be a high intensity game, knowing that the fact that players would tend to play with their emotions, he played experienced players like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes who never failed to get the job done. Playing 5 across the middle was a good tactical move as he know the danger of what Liverpool can do. That's probably why Manchester United are so successful under him.
Liverpool ain't good enough. We have to improve in many areas of the pitch. Small details can proved crucial. We have to forget this match, and move on. We lost with our heads high, and we still have several games to go. We need the 4th place.
You'll Never Walk Alone..
