Chicharito saves United- and Fergie's blushes
Having spent the whole of last week in excited anticipation about what was dubbed by Sir Alex himself as “the biggest game in football,” it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to expect an affair of epic proportions.
Instead, a team sheet surfaced around an hour before kickoff, that, dare I say it, looked as though United were happy to play for a draw at Anfield, with Rooney, Hernandez, Nani and Valencia all starting on the bench. Many would suggest that it would have been naive for Sir Alex to have played his full attacking squad because of how open United have looked in recent games coupled with the fact that they play in Europe midweek, followed by the fiercest of rivals, Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday but treating Liverpool with that much caution in 2011 is entirely unnecessary.
The general consensus of opinion surrounding the controversial team selection seemed to be that Sir Alex was setting up his side to keep the game tight and ‘nick’ a goal late on if the opportunity arose. These tactics included keeping a man on Charlie Adam throughout the game. The game started with United being extremely wasteful in possession and losing the ball in unpressured situations in the midfield on numerous occasions and although there were five senior players in the midfield, Liverpool were getting too many opportunities which could have been due to the absence of Rooney’s combative spirit and ability to bridge the gap between the midfield and Welbeck. In this game, the best form of defence should have been attack and wasn’t. Because of this lack of pressure it put too much strain on United’s defence and Liverpool made the break through with a Steven Gerrard free kick, when Ryan Giggs moved out of the wall after Rio Ferdinand sneezed on Charlie Adam (there was contact).
Sir Alex brought Rooney and Nani on for Park and Young, followed shortly by Hernandez on for Jones which instantly changed the game for the better allowing United to take the game to the Liverpool backline. United began to use the wings more effectively and forced a succession of corners. A Nani corner kick flicked on by Welbeck and netted by Javier Hernandez spared a few blushes and uncomfortable questions on team selection, even though the corner was taken by a substitute and netted by a substitute. Quite ironic.
Sir Alex’s team selection represented the history of the occasion and paid far too much respect to Liverpool’s current and available players. Had he started two of Rooney, Nani or Hernandez and not focussed on treating Charlie Adam like Iniesta, the game could have been won comfortably. Instead, the selection allowed a mediocre Liverpool team in a transitional period to gain confidence and control a game that should have been beyond the ability of their current squad. You won’t hear any cries for Sir Alex to lose his job over it and of course, that would be ridiculous but it has to be said, he had a bad day at the office and fans should have the right to voice their opinion in a constructive manner. After all, If Mancini had put out a similar team in such a high profile game, would you be one of the fans that criticised the negative tactics? Just a thought.
For more unbridled opinionated Red views follow me on twitter @stubbs89
I like this article, u speak the truth bro.
You got it wrong mate if you look at the number of chances Liverpool got after the changes were made you will realise that we couldnt have kept that up for 90 minutes. Spot on Sir Alex.
Spot on?? it most certainly wasn’t. we were chasing a game that we should have bullied. We were set to lose until 2 of the subs created a goal. If it was 0-0 he wouldn’t have brought them all on. We played for a draw.
U’re jst bein’ rational my dear
Sir Alex is a great manager but i think he needs to improve his tactics, he needs Barca mentality who wants to win all d games. I agree dt his approach to dt game wasn’t d best but good!
agree with Zack. champions league, epl and fa cup is are target as Manchester united fans. Epl, we still have plenty of time to get our 3 pointers. but at champions league side, we only have 2 points. need to put our stronger side there in the time being.
We got exactly what we played for, a draw, which isn’t surprising when we have lost on our last three visits to Anfield. We can’t expect to win every game so a point away against one of our biggest rivals isn’t too bad – I think most people would be more than happy with ten points from games against Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Its not like Fergie not to try and win a game but IMO not getting beaten was more important to him on Saturday.
Fergie only had his mind on not conceeding, and maybe sneaking in a winner. When we did conceed, the flood gates opened and Fergie threw everyone on with 3 strikers playing. Fergie will never beat Barca with playing it safe, especially against such a crappy team. You would have never thought he was in charge for 25yrs, it might as well been his 1st day on the job. UNITED should be going into every match with a winning mentality!
Completely agree, No way we should have had just the one striker, and the lineup was way too defensive. Rooney defo should have started as well like u said
were ur strikers and first eleven sleeping when barca demolished them above imagination.
Agree with the major topic but to say Ferguson is a great manager,only in England and not in Europe.Football facts are based on results which in turn are based on trophies for the big clubs.The standard of football in general from Utd over the last number of years in England and in Europe is very poor.It is obvious that the standard in England is woeful and this fact is completly bourne out with the national team.
not as poor as liverpool though..