The build up to the United game: Predictions, Formations etc.......

[Paul]

Three sweet, sweet, sweet fucking points and a fantastic performance - and all against our biggest rivals and the best side in Europe. Well fucking in Rafa lad, and well played Red men. The first five to ten minutes aside, we played them off the park. I asked the other day what had happened to Rafa's aggressive, high-tempo, compact philosophy and today I got my answer: it's back.

 

It seems an obvious thing to say after twatting The Mancs, but every single player in a Red shirt was superb today; we were easily the better team (and Fergie himself has just agreed). The back four was completely solid and the full backs both judged when to push on and when to stay back perfectly. Behind them Pepe was the epitome of top class showing great awareness and concentration when needed.

 

Up front, I thought Keane and Kuyt worked their plums off. Both had very good games for me, but I was so pleased to see Dirk have a crack at playing in his real position and it was such a shame that he didn't get the goal he so richly deserved - although the pull back for Babel left his stamp well and truly on the match.

 

In fact that goal was precede by some of the best possession football I've seen from us in as long as I can remember. The Chief and especially Xabi (who was clearly man of the match for me) were imperious. Their tackling, ball retention and simple passing were the key to this win and I'm so glad Xabi wasn't sold in the summer.

 

Reira had a highly respectable debut with a good touch, quick feet and clear intelligence of both movement and use of the ball. Yossi also played well and deserved more luck with his clever reading of the line for that chance. The subs were also class with both Gerrard and Babel giving The Mancs way too much to cope with and Sami's big aerial presence significant at the death.

 

Rafa got everything he did here absolutely spot on and we're top, top, top of the league as a result. As long as Chelsea don't win, we'll stay that way too. Get the fuck in!!!

[Vincent Vega]

Why are Sky using Dion Dublin as a pundit? He's more famous for having a dick like a donkey than he is for his exploits for the Mancs.

[Owen]

what's the deal with agger anyway?

 

Dunno. Skrtel and Sami are ahead of him in the pecking order and he's going to have to wait for his chance, I guess.

[Thants]

Best just to enjoy the win today mate.

 

I am, I am. Fucking loving it. Best team effort I've seen for a long long time, long may it continue. The 'Rafa apologists' and 'lost the plot' suggestions just wound me up all last 2 weeks. Silly really.

I should just ignore.

 

Liverpool 2 Manchester United 1

 

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

Trust in Rafa

[WhiskeyJar]

You think his 2 chances were as big as the 2 chances Dirk had?

 

Dirk was great today par from them two misses and he had a couple of stabs from long range. The only two areas that he needs to work on are his shots and his first touch, other than that he can tackle, hold the ball, cross and can pick up another played in the area......

[loadsoftrophies]

We need a serious turn in form if we're to get something from this game. This will be dull dull dull but i'm praying we'll play well as we'll have to.

I reckon 2-1 to us.

 

Fucking hell i'm getting good at this, thats 3 results in a row i've predicted in the league, wrong about the dull bit but i could be worth a fortune here!

[loadsoftrophies]

After a poor start to the seaon performance wise we really played some great stuff today, totally dominated them in the second half, it was weird watching it as i was convinced the mancs would score at 1-1 as we had no match winners on the pitch but then when Gerrard and Babel came on we knew we had a right chance.

Masch's tackle at the end when he was injured was fucking excellent. I love him loads.

[Carra_is_legend]

Paul, loved your post there. You made a very good point about Xabi today - he made us tick today. The chief was obviously very very good but Xabi deserves a lot of credit too.

[Mersey_Red]

Great to see Dirk back up front, playing where he should be! Rafa proved all the Critics wrong today, fuck Paul Merson and his no points for liverpool prediction. Let the form continue and bring us number 19.

[Red House]

Tell you what, if it wasn't for Kuyt and Keane's hard work upfront, we wouldn't have won that game. They pressed Vidic and Ferdinand so high up the pitch, they were restricted sending longballs upfront which meant we saw nothing of Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez in the second half. Exactly the same we did with Arsenal in the CL last year. Masch - MOM, Keane and Kuyt - so so much heart, Skrtel - Vidic? (hahaha), Reina - Van Der Sar?(hahaha) - Babel - Nani? (hahaha), Rafa - tactical genius. Ok, I'm getting a bit cocky here, but after having taken in so much in the last years, don't be afraid to let it all out, lads. Anyone with me for a little trip on redcafe?

[Torvald Utne]

the thing that really puts the shine on that was how comfortably we won it, my anus stayed reasonably unclenched for the last 15

[Carra_is_legend]

Can I just add that Gillett is our lucky charm. :whistle:

 

He was there for the Arsenal game and now this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS: Don't neg me please

[Torvald Utne]

Can I just add that Gillett is our lucky charm. :whistle:

 

He was there for the Arsenal game and now this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS: Don't neg me please

 

maybe we hire a taxidermist, stuff him and make him a permanent fixture?

[redcash]

great performance all round,well in lads

[Carra_is_legend]

maybe we hire a taxidermist, stuff him and make him a permanent fixture?

 

Like Parry?

[Guest The Chimp]

The difference today was width, in that we actually had some for once. And Yossi Benayoun looks ten times the player in the middle than he does on the wing.QUOTE]

 

Great appraisal there. :thumbup:

[Red Mist]

Loving the desire from the lads today. If we played with that sort of determination and at that tempo every game, the league will be ours.

[Brownie]

Hahahaha get in there you fucking beauty! I said yesterday that on paper I couldn't see us winning but I still had the feeling we would and i'm made up that's how it transpired!

 

We were fucking brilliant in the second half and thoroughly deserved the victory. We HAVE to take belief and momentum out of this game though. We've got really hard away games coming up against Everton and City which are more important after today. If we win our next three league games then the belief will be there and the players will truly know that they have it in them to challenge.

 

You could see it in Carra's eyes after the game - he BELIEVES that we can do it and I hope all of the players now know it. If we're struggling to break down a shite team after twenty minutes, don't panic because we have proved that we can outplay the best team in the league - just go and do it!

 

I thought that was one of the most open games i've seen involving the top four teams in recent years, and it was all down to us IMO. 4-4-2 and having a real go, we proved we could do it.

 

Nice one redmen, and especially Rafa - he's had plenty of criticism from me and he deserves lots of credit today because he got it right. Nice one, Rafa.

 

Now keep the shackles off for the whole season and reap the rewards!

 

P.S. Riera was boss!

[DJLJ]

Dirk was great today par from them two misses and he had a couple of stabs from long range. The only two areas that he needs to work on are his shots and his first touch, other than that he can tackle, hold the ball, cross and can pick up another played in the area......

 

Don't get me wrong, I think he had a very good game today, I've said as much in my MoM post in the MoM thread. I just think a striker needs to score on chances from 3 meters out and when they dont it needs t be highlighted, because this is what they are bought to do.

[bossy]

It shows that Rafa has balls of steel to leave our two best players as subs for such an important game. He's as hard as fucking nails.

[Vincent Vega]

Three sweet, sweet, sweet fucking points and a fantastic performance - and all against our biggest rivals and the best side in Europe. Well fucking in Rafa lad, and well played Red men. The first five to ten minutes aside, we played them off the park. I asked the other day what had happened to Rafa's aggressive, high-tempo, compact philosophy and today I got my answer: it's back.

 

That was the key to it for me too Paul and why I nominated Masch and Xabi as our best two players in the man of the match thread. Excellent performance from Xabi today, with good tackling and excellent passing, and the work rate of Masch stood out. Last year Anderson was very impressive against us in both games, but he was kept very quiet today. They did though miss Carrick after he went off injured.

 

Everyone performed though and that's not happened in the past and is probably why our record in these games has been so poor. Perhaps it was a good time to play them though, before they fully get into their stride, as I have to say the array of attacking talent they have is the best in Europe. I also have to pass on my thanks to them for the two soft goals they conceded. I'm not taking anything away from our lads though, as we thoroughly deserved that victory and if we can keep up that kind of performance we may get closer to the title than we have for a long time.

[Unrighteous]

Montse will be giving Rafa a goodun tonight.

[Anubis]

You think his 2 chances were as big as the 2 chances Dirk had?

Shut up you whinging git. We won, Dirk played well. He was unlucky with the first chance - did you actually see how congested it was or were your eyes on your keyboard typing some anti-Dirk bile - and should have scored the second. However, he layed on Babel's goal and, along with Mascherano, chased down everything.

 

Oh, and from where I was sat in the upper centenary Vidic's foul was a straight red. I had a perfect side-on view and he led deliberately with the elbow. So you are wrong.

 

Anyway, that out of the way, huge credit to the team today. After a shaky first ten minutes they rolled up their sleeves and played their way into the game. Having done that, they got on top of United and stayed there. Mascherano was, quite simply, awesome. Once Xabi got a grip he was superb - that was the Xabi of two seasons ago. Riera caused United a lot of problems, and I think he'll give a few full backs a nightmare time this season. Dirk showed some great link play, and despite losing his touch towards the end still made a very very important contribution. Keane is still clearly struggling to make an impact, but never hid and never stopped working. Yossi also played out of his skin. It was clear we really wanted that win, and I was a little surprised at how United started timewasting from the start of the second half. And with Ginsoak bringing on a defensive midfielder, I think we can safely say he was happy for a point out of the game. Today I thought we gave a statement of intent, and showed what we are capable of. And all this with Gerrard missing for 65 minuted and Nando not even on the pitch. Brilliant stuff.

 

Finally, just two afterthoughts. Berbatov clearly lost interest after 10 minutes. He is such a lazy twat, and I hadn't realised how many sly little pulls and pushes and trips he makes during the course of a game. Evra, however, is a very good player.

[discuit]

very pissed, very happy......

[King Emlyn]

Great great win, how good does it feel? more satisfying for me is the fact that we were easily the better team, we've not dominated them like that for a hell of a long time. Everybody played their part, we played as a team and it was wonderful to see. Delighted for Benitez, i dare say he'll of enjoyed that more than anybody.

 

EDIT: I like the look of Reira