Liverpool 0 Man United 1 - Prem (Mar 3 2007)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 0 Man United 1

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 3 Mar 2007 Star Man - Jamie Carragher

 

 

 

 

 

Just what do you say after a game like this? To describe it as a kick in the bollocks just doesn't do it justice, I didn't feel like I'd been kicked in the nuts, it felt more like they'd been removed with a blunt knife, stomped on til they were mush, and then fed to the Neville family with the fishheads and entrails they'd normally eat for Sunday lunch. I've had better days, for sure.

I initially planned to write this on Saturday night, but just couldn't face it. 'I'll do it tomorrow morning' I reasoned. Tomorrow morning came and went, I still just didn't want to do it. 'I'll leave it til monday morning' I told myself. Still didn't fancy it then, and I'm only writing it now because I feel I have to get it out the way before we play Barca.

The question most people seemed to be asking after the game was 'just how did we lose this game?'. To me it was pretty obvious why we lost. There were a few reasons, but the over-riding one was the same reason we dropped points to Chelsea, Bolton, Newcastle, Everton, Blackburn and plenty of other teams we should have beaten on the balance of play. We just aren't clinical enough. It's simple. I'd say we're the least clinical team in the league.

So rather than ask 'how did we lose this game', the question on my mind is 'what can we do to stop this happening over and over again?'. Short of ripping it up and completely starting again with the widemen and forwards, I just don't know. We played very well against Man Ham (thank you Tom Hicks for that one), but we lost. Did we deserve to lose? Definitely not. Is it our own fault? You have to say yes it is. Cruel as that sounds given how well we played, the bottom line is we let them off the hook because we couldn't convert our chances.

I also feel we should have gone for them a bit more in the 1st half. It was a cagey affair, and it wasn't really until the start of the 2nd half that we fully took control. Maybe Rafa was concerned that they would pick us off if we were too gung ho, but their lack of ambition meant that worry was unfounded. They came for a 0-0, and the only thing we had to worry about was Ronaldo.

I can't stand that cheating little prick, but the lad can really play. We dealt with him very well on the whole, mainly because whenever he got the ball we made sure we got players around him. He was still a major threat though, which was more than could be said for the rest of his team-mates. We were extremely comfortable at the back, and as I say, only Ronaldo looked capable of hurting us.

Had we played better in the first half when we had the ball, we could have avoided what happened at the end. Unfortunately, whilst the frontmen were doing pretty well and the defence was solid, our midfield kept giving away possession. Not Gerrard, who rarely lost the ball even if he didn't do anything especially threatening with it, and not Gonzalez who basically hardly got a kick.

It was in the centre where we really struggled, as Xabi and especially Momo, kept giving the ball away. Maybe their negative approach placed too much emphasis on the attacking side of Momo’s game? The way the game panned out, he simply wasn’t needed and we’d have been much better off with Gerrard and Alonso in the centre. Rafa couldn’t have predicted that before the game however, and you can’t blame him for going with the tried and trusted big game formula of Xabi, Momo and Stevie in the same midfield.

Ferguson’s approach to the game meant that Momo didn’t have to do much defensively, but had a lot more responsibility than usual when he had the ball. Was that why he kept giving it away? Maybe, but it could just be that he had a bad game. It happens, just not very often with Sissoko.

As bad as he was though, he would have had to be a hell of a lot worse to match the ineptitude of Nemanja Vidic. He’s been getting rave reviews this season, but I rarely watch them other than brief highlights so I can’t really say too much about him. Rafa was really keen on him a year or so ago, but we signed Agger and Vidic went to Old Trafford. On this evidence we dodged a bullet as I’ve yet to see Agger play anywhere near this badly. The young Dane has had a brilliant season, and was excellent yet again as he and Carra nullified the threat of Rooney and Larsson.

Vidic on the other hand, was terrorised by Craig Bellamy. The Welsh striker beat him on several occasions, but frustratingly none of them led to anything. It was a mismatch, but the only time it looked like it would pay off was when Bellamy’s persistence and pace allowed him to rob the lumbering defender in the box, only for him to overhit a simple pass to Kuyt that would have presented him with an open goal.

I haven’t seen any replays of this game, other than Crouch’s shot that was saved, and that’s how it will stay as I never want to see any of this game ever again as long as I live. If it comes on the tv, I switch over or look away, and I doubt that will ever change.

So my view of things is based on what I saw at the time, and may well be inaccurate. Maybe Bellamy’s pass to Kuyt wasn’t that bad, and perhaps Dirk should have reacted quicker, I don’t know. At the time I felt it was just a very bad pass that was too far in front of Kuyt. Had he cut the ball back another yard or two, it was a certain goal.

That was easily the best opportunity of the half, although Riise pinged a free kick inches wide with Van Der Saar beaten. The closest the mancs came to testing Reina was when Ronaldo burst through onto a flick by Larsson but shot over the bar. As well as we shackled Ronaldo, he was always threatening to do something and we needed to be on guard to keep him in check. One surging run into the box had the Kop fearing the worst, but Carragher got across to make a fantastic block as the Portugal winger pulled the trigger.

It was a brilliant piece of defending, made even by the fact that seconds later he was on the other side of the box making a similar block on Rooney. Carragher’s performance in this game was truly outstanding, possibly the best individual display from a Liverpool player this season.

At half time, I would have took Momo off and brought Pennant on. We had no penetration from the middle of the park, and not much width either as Gerrard was coming infield quite a bit. We needed more support for the strikers, and to me the only way we would get that would be to move Gerrard into the middle and get Pennant out wide getting crosses in.

Rafa kept things as they were though, and we did start the 2nd half really well. Kuyt began the half looking really sharp (I thought he did quite well in the 1st half too), and his clever pass sent Bellamy in on goal, but his control let him down and his shot was a bit scuffed and allowed Van Der Saar to get down and make a good save.

Games between the top sides are won and lost on little details, and as well as Bellamy played, the poor pass to Kuyt in the 1st half and the failure to take this opportunity at the start of the 2nd cost us big time. It isn’t just him to blame though. Gerrard wasted a good chance shortly after – albeit on his left foot – and Crouch should have scored late on. Against lesser sides these kind of misses aren’t so important because usually more chances will come along.

Against the mancs, Chelsea and Arsenal however, you simply have to take chances when they come along, because if you don’t you will pay the price. The one time we did put the ball in the net Bellamy was adjudged to have been offside. Rafa has said since that it was the correct decision, so we have no cause for complaint there. It didn’t bother me too much at the time anyway as I’d seen the flag go up straight away so didn’t have the disappointment of thinking we’d scored only to have it taken away.

We totally dominated that 2nd half, and Reina didn’t have to make a single save until that goal in stoppage time. Carragher and Agger were faultless, and this defeat was especially cruel on those two. We’d gone virtually ten whole Premiership games without conceding a goal at home, and that record would still be intact if there was any justice in this world.

Rafa’s substitutions didn’t help us either in my opinion, and that is a source of great worry for me at the moment. There was a time when his changes were usually inspired, but most of the time these days they are just perplexing. Aurelio for Gonzalez was logical, but Bellamy was a threat, and bringing him off for a midfielder was demoralising.

Rafa seemed to realise that fairly quickly, and it wasn’t long before he got Sissoko off and put Crouch on. It made a difference, as Pennant was lively and Crouch clearly unsettled United. The big man should have scored when he elected to chest the ball down and shoot instead of heading it back across goal. Given his poor heading ability though, he probably did the right thing, he just didn’t direct his shot quite well enough and Van Der Saar made a fine save. I think that was the moment we knew we wouldn’t win, but at that point defeat wasn’t even in my head.

As much as we always call the mancs lucky because of their penchant for grabbing late goals, the truth is that luck has nothing to do with it – usually. The late winner they got at Fulham last week may have been undeserved on the balance of play, but in the closing stages of that game that went with four up front and pushed for a winning goal. Fortune often favours the brave, as they got their reward. You have to give credit where it’s due, even if it is through gritted teeth.

This time though, they don’t deserve any credit. They were just very, very lucky and didn’t deserve anything from this game, let alone all three points. It was a spawny goal from what should never have been a free-kick (tv replays may prove me wrong there, but I’ll never know).

The moment the referee awarded that free-kick, I think we all knew what was coming. Until then, I hadn’t even contemplated us letting one in as we were so comfortable, But I can honestly say, hand on heart, that there was not even the tiniest doubt in my mind that they were going to score from that free-kick. Outplayed for ninety minutes, not a single shot on goal, desperately hanging on with ten men and wasting time in a manner that would have made Portsmouth blush, and then awarded a dodgy free-kick on the edge of the box…. It was never in doubt really was it?

I think our players knew it too, just look at how they reacted to the ref when that free-kick was given. Gerrard went nuts, no doubt because he had the same feeling the rest of us did.

I’ve read various comments from people about the goal, and it seems they had players in an offside position, most notably Saha who ran across Reina. That is clearly interfering with play, but those decisions just don’t seem to be given these days. As long as the player doesn’t touch the ball, he can drop his shorts, part his arse cheeks and fart in the keepers face and the linesman’s flag won’t go up. When it’s the mancs, then forget about it, we ain’t getting that decision in a million years.

Reina should have held it, even though it was a difficult one to deal with. Like I said, it’s the little details that decide these games. Van Der Saar makes a couple of excellent saves, Reina spills a shot and we lose. I’m not blaming Pepe, he’s only as much to blame as those who missed chances at the other end.

I’m not blaming the referee either, much as I’d like to because I thought he was dreadful once again. This is the fella who reffed our 6-3 game with Arsenal, and he was atrocious that night as well. I wrote after that game that ‘I hope I never see him at Anfield again’. That sentiment stands, Martin Atkinson is hopeless and this game was too big for him.


Yeah, he sent Scholes off, but what else could he do when the dirty little ginge threw a right hook at Xabi right in front of him? That was one of the few things he actually got right. He booked Alonso for kicking the ball away after the whistle, but did nothing when Gary Neville – already on a booking - did the same thing late in the 2nd half when they were down to ten and desperately time wasting. The two instances were identical, but he shit out of giving Neville what he deserved.

From the moment he sent off Scholes he was desperately trying to make it up to them. He let them time waste, he gave them free kicks and he ignored fouls on our players. He wasn’t biased, he was just weak. When Giggs through his arms up and appealed for a free-kick, he couldn’t get the whistle to his lips fast enough. I feared the worst when I heard this strunz was in charge, and it says a lot when I was lamenting the injury that ruled Graeme fucking Poll out of this game.

Hopefully this dickhead will be banished to the Championship next season, as I really don’t want him in charge of any of our games again.

But to blame the ref would be to overlook our own deficiencies. I’d like to be able to take heart from the fact that we dominated them, and restricted them to one goal attempt, but to tell the truth I just can’t. If anything it depresses me even more, as it’s a recurring theme.

We have thrown away so many points in games we should have won, but I don’t know how the problem can be rectified other than to bring in new players who are more clinical. We keep replacing players (forwards and wingers) who are no better than the ones who are leaving.

Are the current crop of forwards better than the ones we had two, three, four, five years ago? Bellamy has proved to be a slightly better version of Cisse but with less goals, and has Dirk done more for the side than Crouch did last season? Not for me he hasn’t. Then there’s the widemen. Gonzalez is nowhere near as good as Kewell (even the fat, half fit one), and is Pennant better than Smicer?

We’re in a cycle were we keep signing players who are not proving to be better than those they are replacing, and that’s why we just can’t make that final step. Rafa is not exactly building a team on the cheap, but whereas the mancs can go out and pay big money for Ronaldo, Rooney etc and Chelsea throw money around like no other before them to bring in proven top quality, Rafa has had to go for ‘second tier’ signing in the hope they will step up to the next level and become world class.

I thought we could still challenge for the title like that, and I had high hopes for people like Bellamy, Gonzalez, Kuyt and Pennant. Clearly, I was wrong. We just don’t have the quality in the final third to mount a title challenge. Defensively we’re the best around in my opinion, and we have a central midfield quartet that’s the envy of Europe.

Those positions can be filled without spending huge money, but if you want the best attacking players then unfortunately they are very, very expensive. We’ve got a great base to build on, but unless the Americans throw a lot of money Rafa’s way this summer then we won’t be bringing home number 19 any time soon.

I honestly think that the single biggest reason the mancs are going to win this league is Ronaldo. Whichever one of the top four had him in their side would be top of the league in my opinion, as this season he’s been almost unstoppable. A player like that would turn us into strong title contenders, and would compensate for the lack of a genuinely world class striker. A player like that is the difference maker we just don’t have, but who else is there like him that we could sign?

We’ve gone backwards from last season (in terms of points), and if we are to reverse that trend for next season then big money is going to have to be spent. Replacing like for like just won’t cut it, we need genuine, world class, edge of the seat signings. If the Americans are serious about turning us into title contenders, they’ll need to deliver players of the calibre of Alves and Eto’o.

Unrealistic? Maybe, but no more unrealistic than expecting Benitez to win the league without genuine world class signings.

All we have left to play for now is the Champions League, but if we let Barcelona off the hook the way we did the mancs, then our season could be over in the next 24 hours. If that happens, don’t expect a report on here, as that would be more than I can take!

Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Riise; Gerrard, Sissoko (Crouch), Alonso, Gonzalez (Aurelio); Bellamy (Pennant), Kuyt: