Monday, January 14, 2013

Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool

I didn't care how we won this, but to be fair, though we were hanging on a bit during the last ten minutes, it was a well deserved three points. For the first fifty minutes or so we almost completely dominated the game. The first half was just one way traffic, they came with the plan of getting men behind the ball, but seemed to forget that they would still have to support Suarez when he got the ball. Carrick and Cleverley once more played well together and our two men up front did the business as well causing their back four constant headaches.
I had a feeling Fergie would pick Welbeck and he didn't let him down, the only Mancunian in the side, he played like it, giving a 110% for the 90 minutes. Van Persie had another stormer and capped it with that superb finish to a superb move for the first goal. Kagawa was the only slight disappointment, he didn't have a bad game, but once more he didn't influence proceedings as much as we would have liked. Still Fergie is giving him games, which is hopefully all he needs to get his form and fitness back and settle him into the club.
I was a bit surprised to see Ferdinand and Vidic partner each other at the back, and i hope that the Evans injury isn't too bad as i think their best days are now past them as a centre back pairing. When Liverpool got back into the game after their equaliser, the lack of pace at the heart of the defence came to the fore. Once again Rafael was superb, and it's become noticeable recently how he starts to get stronger the longer the game goes on. That of course was a bit of an Achilles heel for him, so that's great to see. Evra has to get a mention too, he seems to have refound his form of late and it was a cracking header for the second even if it glanced Vidic's head.
It was a pity we couldn't get the second goal that first half performance deserved, we had enough chances to have got it, both Welbeck and Van Persie had great chances that they couldn't convert. But it would have been nice if Tom Cleverley's volley had gone in with about five minutes left of the half. That would have been a hell of a goal.
Liverpool changed things around at half time and the second half was a far more even contest, i was surprised how United seemed to tire late on, i think we'll see a big turnaround in players on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see who he plays at centre half, i won't be surprised to see Smalling partnering Jones given the injury situation.
It was a pity the City game turned into a non event so early in the game, but i have to say, i never really expected much from Arsenal. I doubt we'll get such an easy afternoon when we visit the Emirates, the Van Persie transfer will see to that. Still our record in the big games is pretty emphatic this season so far, so you'd still have to fancy us when we visit.

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