Man Utd away

[ratcatcher]

Are we out of the title race now?

Just asking..............

[coop]

Before the start of today’s game i had firm belief that we could go to Old Trafford and get the three points.

We were on a run of seven straight wins and in Gerrard and Torres we have players that can score against any defence in the world.

The new formation seemed to be working and allowing strength in the middle of the park and allowed Gerrard to get forward much more in support of Torres.

The game kicked off and we actually went at Man United and looked like we may be getting ready to enjoy a superb afternoon. This all ended though after only seven minutes.

Carragher mis-judged a pass and Rooney found himself clean through and had the Man United striker gone down it would have been a penalty and a potential sending off for Carragher.

From that moment on we stopped playing. Man United stepped up a gear and controlled possession and it wasn’t any real surprise to see them take the lead, although the scorer was a shock.

Mascherano got himself booked early in the first half and should really have stayed away from the referee but thanks to the emotion of the game allowed himself to lose discipline and kept reminding Bennett that he had yet to book a Manchester United player.

When Torres was repeatedly fouled i expected finally a yellow card to be brandished but instead the ref, Steve Bennett decided to book Torres himself for complaining about been kicked.

This decision prompted a reaction from Mascherano and although Alonso tried to stop him he asked the ref ‘whats happening’. This act of petulance prompted the referee to once again produce a yellow card which was Mascherano’s second of the afternoon and a subsequent red card followed.

For me it was a crazy decision as Steve Bennett should have just told Mascherano why Torres had been booked and told the Liverpool midfielder to go away. This act by Bennett will not have done him any favours however as he already as a reputation as been whistle happy and seems to have taken the mantle from Graham Poll of the referee who likes to be centre of attention.

The Mascherano incident only masked what was a very poor performance by all of the Liverpool team.

Players who you can normally rely on in Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres had pretty quiet games and it seemed only the Manchester United players who actually wanted to win today’s match.

For me the Liverpool keeper was at fault for two of Man Uniteds goals, although he did save another couple of efforts but Pepe seemed un-characteristic in his lack of confidence today and hopefully he will get todays game out of his system as we have some very important matches coming up, starting next week with Everton

[Captain]

test

[Neil G]

I'm not overly enamoured of our performance today, but I'll post about that tomorrow. Right now I'd like to add my twopennce worth that Steve Bennett is a corrupt bribe-taking cunt and that those corrupt Manc fuckers have got English football in their pocket. Sorry to repeat myself, but if any of you are getting fed up with what I'm saying you can go fuck yourselves.

Sorry, love you really.

But seriously, go fuck yourselves.

[Section_31]

Originally Posted by Neil G I'm not overly enamoured of our performance today, but I'll post about that tomorrow. Right now I'd like to add my twopennce worth that Steve Bennett is a corrupt bribe-taking cunt and that those corrupt Manc fuckers have got English football in their pocket. Sorry to repeat myself, but if any of you are getting fed up with what I'm saying you can go fuck yourselves. Sorry, love you really. But seriously, go fuck yourselves.

haha, I clicked on this post thinking it was G Richards (and easy mistake to make!) and then read the word cunt and nearly spat my tea out!

[Neil G]

Originally Posted by Section_31 haha, I clicked on this post thinking it was G Richards (and easy mistake to make!) and then read the word cunt and nearly spat my tea out!

I could be really evil and try to play some elaborate ruse to make you think that G and I am the same person. But I have too much respect for the G-man to do that.

Or do I?

[Dirk]

Originally Posted by Neil G I could be really evil and try to play some elaborate ruse to make you think that G and I am the same person. But I have too much respect for the G-man to do that. Or do I?

I'm surprised you haven't broken your toe again.

[Neil G]

Originally Posted by Dirk I'm surprised you haven't broken your toe again.

I didn't, but I was very close to breaking my year-plus abstinence from smoking. When their third went in I made a beeline for the pub door and made strides down the street towards the newsagent to get a packet of fags, before I managed to stop myself. I'd offer that up to Liz as an example of self-restraint, provided she's not worried about making a spectacle of herself by punching things and screaming obscenities in front of a pub full of people.

[Hatred]

Spineless surrender. An improvement on last year. Inept performance.

[James Dean]

Haven't read the thread entirely, but for me it's the players confidence. They don't believe they'll get anything from these games. By these I mean Arsenal and Man Utd away. Home we normally boss the game, and against the Salford crew we've been unlucky with Rafa in charge. There are other factors too obviously, but without the belief throughout the team that they'll get something from these games, going into those is moot.

[109_ultra]

If only the players had the mentality of the fans, I really thought we'd win today, no, i thought we'd blow them away as daft as it sounds now. Fact is, too many hid away. Babel tore the arse out of brown on a couple of occasions but even so he never 'believed' he could win the game for us as did too many in our side. Until we acquire the winning mentality we will keep losing against these cunts who to be honest are a good team BUT not a great one which makes it so fucking dissapointing!! When is gerrard going to step up to the plate in this fixture??

[JMARKH]

I don't think Rafa is the kind of manager that installs self belief into the players, he's very tactically astute on most occasions but its been said he is distant with the players and expects them just to go out their and do their job in a robot like fashion. As players our human tho they get affected by all kinds of things and need to be inspired at times, I think Mourinho is a manager who's self belief rubs off on the players, and I don't think it is one of Rafa's strengths but maybe I am wrong, its hard to say what goes on in the dressin room.

[WaltonRed]

Cant be arsed posting on all the other threads as there seems to be a million of them, most of saying how shite our players are and plums like that.

Its hard enough winning there without being bumped by the ref but the goals were all shocking and even before Browns goal we looked shakey I thought.

Mascherano should of saw it coming but I dont blame him for kicking off, booking Torres after he'd been kicked and then complained was a joke of the highest order.

Also its a big game between the two biggest clubs in the country, use your nouse Bennett and not book someone for their first tackle in a big game.

Players shouldnt hound the refs, but there should be some payback as the refs are woeful.

How they retire decent refs like Durkin and Gallagher and keep the likes of Bennett and Riley on ill never know.

They need to fastrack ex players into the role asap.

[Rashid]

Originally Posted by JMARKH I don't think Rafa is the kind of manager that installs self belief into the players, he's very tactically astute on most occasions but its been said he is distant with the players and expects them just to go out their and do their job in a robot like fashion. As players our human tho they get affected by all kinds of things and need to be inspired at times, I think Mourinho is a manager who's self belief rubs off on the players, and I don't think it is one of Rafa's strengths but maybe I am wrong, its hard to say what goes on in the dressin room.

I am not having Rafa be blamed for yesterday, he put out a good team and told them to play football. It wasn't his fault that the defence went AWOL and one of his best players got sent off. It was away to United and not an easy game.

Interesting seeing that Quiroz said that were it not for Reina it would have been a historic win but the keeper saved FIVE one on ones.... and some on here have laid into Reina....

Opinions.

[Liam]

Hicks wont be pleased with Rafa signalling the game being over when Mascherano got sent off. I thought that gesture to the Utd fans was a tad defeatist.

[Neil G]

Originally Posted by Liam Hicks wont be pleased with Rafa signalling the game being over when Mascherano got sent off. I thought that gesture to the Utd fans was a tad defeatist.

I thought his gesture was meant to say that Bennett had ruined the game.

[gkmacca]

I think knowing that your manager has planned extremely carefully for a game, i