Liverpool, oh Liverpool...
This is one club, United just love to beat!
The rivalries between these two clubs are fantastic, the fans are passionate and the squabbles over who is the better club not only involves the local fans but also fans from around the world!
The Hype building up to this match was good, as the club's respective managers started mind games about who is going to win. Fans like me? well... could not help but predict the outcome and also the starting line up, worried about recent injuries to star players and also trying to diss friends who supported the opposition!
The game started, and I looped "Take me home United Road" on my Itunes for the whole first half! Both teams started well, attacking at each other and trying to foil one another's chances at goal. But of course, what's a football match without controversies these days?
As Javier Mascherano lunged in for the tackle on Scholesy, he was in for the worst day of his well, career? It was pretty obvious he would get a caution for that tackle but still he believed he was innocent and started to target the ref with his so called "words of wisdom".
United had their attacks foiled on numerous occasions, but nevertheless they pressured the Liverpool goal and finally found a weakness in Pepe Reina. The kop keeper nearly tipped the ball into his own net and from there, United saw this as a chance to attack!
Finally in the 35th minute, the deadlock was broken. Wes Brown who is yet to sign a contract for United won the ball in the opposition's half, managed to score with his back after a marvelous cross from Wayne Rooney. Complain about luck? but hell it doesn't matter how you score but it's the fact that you scored that counts.
From there, Pool felt the pressure mounting and attempts by their in-form striker Fernando Torres was blocked by the United solid defence! Getting frustrated, Torres was later booked for dissing the ref and from there, fans were treated to a comedy of sorts.
As Torres walked away calmly, his buddy Javier Mashcerano decides its time to defend my teammate, and runs 20yards from where he is to talk to the ref. Obviously the ref was already ticked off by Torres and suddenly he has this whinning lil kid in his face asking him WHY WHY WHY? (reports say, Mascherano just asked why... ) It was pretty much clear that the ref couldn't take it anymore and immediately brought out the yellow card and booked him once again! 2 Yellow cards mean and automatic sending off which ended up quite funny! Being a so called professional footballer, Mr. Mascherano decides to piss off the ref even more and questions his sending off. There were signs he was about to hit the ref but luckily for him his teammates held him back. It was a real struggle as he tried to get to the ref only to be held back and later lectured by his manager before he calmly walked down the tunnel back to his dressing room to sulk.
Half time! United is up 1-0 and Liverpool is down to 10 men.
The reports during the half time break was hillarious and the professional pundit from Malaysia Mr. Shebby Singh once again didn't showed us how professional he is! Putting the blame on United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson for "pressuring" the referees early on was completely dumb! If he says that Sir Alex had done that, what about managers in the past? Is it because of Mascherano's sending off, it has become the United manager's fault? A player is responsible for his own actions and he could have definitely avoided it if he just had learnt to SHUT UP! As I am no professional footballer, I can't say more but I can say Mr. Shebby please SHUT UP!
The second half started slowly as United took their leg off the accelerator and sat back as they tried to play out the game! Surely the fans wanted to see United make Liverpool pay with goals galore but nevertheless, they kept the scoreline reasonable and that nearly cost them the game.
I'll give credit to one Liverpool player who really was working hard on that pitch and that was the captain Stevie G. He worked hard and tested the United goal with his powerful snap-shots from outside the box causing the United defence to worry.
Anderson who was playing well throughout the game, decided it was time for him to be a kid again and started screwing up shots and not to mention losing possession cheaply in the United half. It was certain he was going to be taken off after he shot the ball over the bar after Rooney brilliantly took the ball on his own! True enough, Anderson was taken off along with Giggs and replaced by Tevez and Nani respectively.
The two super subs who normally changes the game when they come on did just that. In a matter of minutes, Ronaldo had another chance on goal but was saved by Reina who gained back his confidence at the break!
Corner Kick! Now, Nani has a record of accurate corner kicks and there was one more corner to add to his collection as it met Ronaldo's head and landed into the back of the net! In a space of 5minutes, Rooney who was feeling a knock earlier managed to overcome it and set up Nani for the third goal of the game!
With the game done and dusted! Efforts from Gerrard were foiled as non of his team mates really tried to get a consolation goal. Torres was also taken off with his manager complaining about how United's defence practically injured his precious striker with knocks and kicks! All I can say is, Torres, Welcome to the Premier League and you could have been tougher if you had chosen the right team!
3 Points again for United and with Arsenal failing to beat Chelsea hopes of retaining the title is once again back on!
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