[Livewire1974]

2 classy men. Love the way Mata talks about the team rather than himself. We are beginning to look like a team again.

 

[stevoc]

I wonder if he is doing a whip round to get some t-shirts made to support Skrtel, just incase the FA charge him.

 

[JTW95]

What a stupid thing to post if it is him.

I think it is a fake account. He has a link to his twitter page on that facebook page which has PARODY written on it.

 

[Dobba]

"Kop legend gives it to you straight"

Like a pear cider made from 100% pears.

 

[Raw]

Just burst out laughing

I also remember Rodgers saying something about LVG getting a shock when coming to the PL.

 

[Fully Fledged]

Yeah, Scouse vermin stamping all over our players.

 

[77]

First half was our best 45 away from home this season. We bossed it from minute 1.

As great as doing the double over them, it just brings back a little sourness that Swansea took 6 points of us. If only...

 

[kps88]

Got to give credit to Atkinson who I thought had a very good game apart from missing the stamp at the end.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Wow! Lost my voice and everything. What a game and what a performance from the lads.

After the Spurs game, a lot of people ABU's were saying our performance the other day was down to Spurs playing poor, instead of us playing brilliantly. Well, today we certainly showed them.

I've never seen us play so well at Anfield, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting us to play as well as we did. I was prepared to take a scrappy win, but today we won in style. From the kick off, we dominated the game as if we were the home team. Passed it well, loads of movement, created chances - the lot. Liverpool didn't know what to do.

Second half, especially when Gerrard got sent off, our tempo dropped a bit, which is probably understandable. Unfortunately, we conceded a sloppy goal, and that gave Liverpool a bit of hope, and they upped their game. However, I always felt we had control of the game at all times. We limited Liverpool to very few chances and ultimately deserved to win the game.

After this performance today, and this isn't a knee jerk reaction, I think we could beat anyone in the league. Liverpool haven't lost a game in the league this year, beating some good teams on the way.

Today, we made them look average at their own ground. I think if we play like that for the remainder of the season, we'll be a problem for any team in the league.

Well played lads.

 

[settembrini]

+ Important win for getting back into the top 4.
+ 4-3-3 and another sensible team selection. If only this had been the case all season.
+ First 30 minutes were superb. It's good that we are starting games with aggression at the moment.
+ Smalling had another excellent game. He's developing very well under Van Gaal.
+ The midfield trio were all very good.
+ Mata was fantastic, best player on the pitch.

- We played worse against 10 than we did against 11. Think we need to spend a training session or two on this.
- Rooney had his worst game since moving back upfront.
- Blind was really bad. All over the place defensively and unusually poor in possession. Maybe needs a rest.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

+ Important win for getting back into the top 4.
+ 4-3-3 and another sensible team selection. If only this had been the case all season.
+ First 30 minutes were superb. It's good that we are starting games with aggression at the moment.
+ Smalling had another excellent game. He's developing very well under Van Gaal.
+ The midfield trio were all very good.
+ Mata was fantastic, best player on the pitch.

- We played worse against 10 than we did against 11. Think we need to spend a training session or two on this.
- Rooney had his worst game since moving back upfront.
- Blind was really bad. All over the place defensively and unusually poor in possession. Maybe needs a rest.

Not sure I agree with the bolded bit. You make it sound like Sterling tore him a good one. He was always in the right place at the right time down our left side. Him, Young and Fellani continued from Spurs.

 

[Im red2]

Just burst out laughing

I also remember Rodgers saying something about LVG getting a shock when coming to the PL.

Looks like Rodgers had the last shock

 

[WR10]

We were absolutely great. We've really 'clicked' and the spurs game was definitely no fluke, great to see again

 

[The Man Himself]

First time my average rating is less than overall average rating Loks like caf is happy tonight

 

[Oddboy]

"Kop legend gives it to you straight"

Like a pear cider made from 100% pears.

 

[Sandikan]

terrific win, hoped we could do something, especially as all the press thought it was a done deal we'd lose.

Dalglish's column was a bit strong I thought, but the best one was McManaman predicting a 3-0 coast for them! Unbelievable!

If anything we should have won it 3-0

 

[Theonas]

Even if we conceded late on today, I would have thought today was a confirmation that we are on the right track. The reason for that is our approach, I was very happy that we went to Anfield with the mentality that we're gonna try ton control the game and pin them back in their own half as opposed to try and suck up the pressure and counter attack. The most exciting thing for me about Van Gaal is that his teams have that authority about them in the sense that they want to take charge of the game and let the opponents be "resilient" and "organised" against them. This also has been the main reason for me to never want Mourinho here despite him almost guaranteeing trophies. It's just much more fitting for a club with our status to have that authoritative approach which we have seen today.

 

[Shamwow]

Hahaha Gerrard you fanny

 

[DomesticTadpole]

On the pitch for about 30 seconds and his self pity interview makes out the defeat was all down to him.

'Stevie me'

He has broad shoulders does Stevie.

 

[SirAF]

I'm still buzzing!

 

[Acole9]

"Kop legend gives it to you straight"

Like a pear cider made from 100% pears.

He probably had about ten of those before he came up with that article.

 

[Godfather]

+ Important win for getting back into the top 4.
+ 4-3-3 and another sensible team selection. If only this had been the case all season.
+ First 30 minutes were superb. It's good that we are starting games with aggression at the moment.
+ Smalling had another excellent game. He's developing very well under Van Gaal.
+ The midfield trio were all very good.
+ Mata was fantastic, best player on the pitch.

- We played worse against 10 than we did against 11. Think we need to spend a training session or two on this.
- Rooney had his worst game since moving back upfront.
- Blind was really bad. All over the place defensively and unusually poor in possession. Maybe needs a rest.

Blind was fantastic tbh.

 

[Chorley1974]

terrific win, hoped we could do something, especially as all the press thought it was a done deal we'd lose.

Dalglish's column was a bit strong I thought, but the best one was McManaman predicting a 3-0 coast for them! Unbelievable!

If anything we should have won it 3-0

The ex scouse players in the media can't help themselves, L'pool will walk it etc, worst at the moment is Danny Murphy on TalkShite, always runs us down, whilst bigging up L'pool, oh and Micky Quinn who is just a decking gobshite scouse turd.

 

[dsch]

Blind was fantastic tbh.

I thought the Blind-Young partnership didn't really click today, but Blind has still been quite good. He's been good at intelligently supporting the play down that side, knows when to keep possession and when to make the run behind.

 

[RedOldBoy]

Great win and how we didn't score four goals I just don't know.

Di Maria should have made a better pass to Rooney in an open goal position and the penalty miss too.

 

[Speedicut75]

+ Important win for getting back into the top 4.
+ 4-3-3 and another sensible team selection. If only this had been the case all season.
+ First 30 minutes were superb. It's good that we are starting games with aggression at the moment.
+ Smalling had another excellent game. He's developing very well under Van Gaal.
+ The midfield trio were all very good.
+ Mata was fantastic, best player on the pitch.

- We played worse against 10 than we did against 11. Think we need to spend a training session or two on this.
- Rooney had his worst game since moving back upfront.
- Blind was really bad. All over the place defensively and unusually poor in possession. Maybe needs a rest.[/QUOTE]
I Felt Blind did well. Certainly seemed to hold a disciplined line when dealing with their threat from wide positions, and showed good composure when on the ball.
The only defensive player who seemed to be stretched was Jones, who does have a habit of appearing all elbows-and-arseholes, when closing on a player.

 

[JackXX]

As good as it gets in the first half I thought we were exceptional. Mata & Herrera were fantastic. Today is probably the first time Mata has looked as good as his old self at Chelsea. I perhaps believe the systems we use have not suited him at all.
The weird thing is the way we made things difficult for ourselves after the sending off. Too sloppy with the ball at times and we looked so relaxed. Saw the best and the worst of Di Maria when he came on. Lovely passes to Mata for the goal and Blind for the pen but gave the ball away a lot and I felt he could have worked harder at times. Rooney wasn't great either but he did enough to cause Liverpool problems. I am never confident when he takes penalties. I think that perhaps needs addressing it could cost us one day.

 

[Im red2]

He has broad shoulders does Stevie.

And even broader feet, if there is a slippy patch they will find it. And if a shin to stand on they will find that too.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Last 10 minutes I was watching result on text. every minute seemed like its lasting 10 minutes.

 

[adamwest]

On my birthday. So so so sweet.

 

[XdanielredX]

God, have we all of a sudden "clicked" ?????

 

[.Rossi]

I think there was definite complacency or at the very least poor preparation from Liverpool. didn't see the out ball to fellaini coming even though we did it last week. I think they expected to just turn up, do what they have been doing and that would be enough. They seemed surprised and frustrated when we tried to monopolise possession. you know, like we've tried to do all season.

 

[legball]

And talking about De Gea, he's now sweeping better than I've ever seen him, he used to prefer staying on his line more, but now, he's coming out more to sweep, nice improvement there I think.

 

[Nathan]

Happy we won, excellent result in terms of the top four finish. Liverpool can have no complaints

I am hopeful that FA will look at that tackle of skertel - very poor. United dominated and worthy winners.

Really think we can look up now and try to get second place

 

[Anderson's Cat]

The first few point of this article sum up Liverpool very well.

http://www.football365.com/f365-says/9772282/16-Conclusions

Spoiler

* "Everyone thought Liverpool had won the title and when the team bus drove through the streets to get to the ground, there were flags everywhere,'" said Cesar Azpilicueta when recounting the day that Liverpool let it f***ing slip against Chelsea. There has been talk of destiny, romance and Steven Gerrard writing his own script on what felt like an inexorable march to the title. There has been a similar vibe building in recent weeks, with a top-four place place seemingly becoming so inevitable that second place became the new goal.

No pundit gave Manchester United a chance in the build-up to this fixture, last week's 3-0 win over 'only Tottenham' dismissed as though they were playing the Spurs of Jason Dozzell and Justin Edinburgh rather than the very able team currently just one point behind Liverpool.

The almost-inevitable consequence? Over-confidence spilling over into negligence.


* Phil Thompson's Liverpool-Manchester United XI was typical of this over-confidence, with just three United players selected. Just how did the team in fifth get so very much better than the team in fourth? In the build-up to this game, the narrative has been clear: Louis van Gaal is a chump who is fluking results and Brendan Rodgers is some kind of necromancer. Oh we do like a narrative being turned on its head.


* Rodgers typically gave himself a massive amount of credit for changing Liverpool's tactics at half-time against Swansea on Monday night, which then makes it utterly bizarre that he started the game against Manchester United six days later with the original formation that was brutally exposed by rookie manager Garry Monk on Monday.

They were incredibly lucky to leave Wales with three points after Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson had initially been dominated so easily, so why believe that a Champions League and multiple La Liga winner would somehow fail to see the frailties in Liverpool's midfield box? Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera and Juan Mata delighted in moving betwixt and between Liverpool's frozen lines.

It's easy to laugh at any notion that Steven Gerrard should have started the game after the inexcusable brainfart of his red card, but that clearly would not have happened if the captain was on the pitch from the start. And that very, very early unravelling might not have happened either.


* "In that game I played Raheem Sterling in one of the wide roles and it didn't suit Raheem so I've got to then go away and think how do I put him into the system and make it work for him," said Rodgers when discussing his first use of his innovative 3-4-3 formation in a 1-0 win at Newcastle in November.

It seemed that he went away, came up with a solution that did work and then breezily went back to his original plan as if something would have magically changed in the interim. Why? To shoehorn Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Raheem Sterling into the same team? Or to teach Sterling a lesson about holding the club to ransom over wages. After all, who pays a wing-back £150,000 a week?

Whatever the reason, it's a ridiculous idea that has escaped inquisition because Liverpool have been winning.

* "How does he deal with such a massive physical presence who is brilliant at bringing the ball down out of the air?" asked Gary Neville this week as he pin-pointed Emre Can v Marouane Fellaini as a battle that could decide the match. We had the answer within about 12 seconds, when Blind's first ball forward was aimed at the head of Fellaini, who was predictably pushing onto Can. The Belgian won the first battle and emerged victorious in the war.

Neville was not the only one to pin-point that potential weakness and yet there was no response from Rodgers, who negligently left Can exposed. The poor lad never even wanted to play centre-half, never mind have to contest aerial battle after aerial battle with an afro-haired man mountain. When Blind left him on his arse, we wanted to give the boy a hug.


* "We beat Liverpool by their own weapons with pressure on the ball in the first half," said Van Gaal after the match, making it clear that it was United's plan rather than sheer enthusiasm that led to an opening half-hour in which Liverpool were never allowed the luxury of a second to think.

While Liverpool turned up at Anfield with momentum and narrative in their armoury, Van Gaal had a clear tactical plan to disrupt Liverpool's natural game. Perhaps Sam Allardyce had a point when he said that Rodgers "looks like he won't adjust" to the opposition? When he perhaps needed to protect Can from Fellaini or unleash Sterling on Phil Jones - a man fooled by the simplest of shoulder drops - he decided that what was good enough to beat Burnley would be good enough to beat Manchester United. After all, this is the team that would have had a chance of winning the Champions League (if only they hadn't got knocked out).


* Wayne Rooney had already exposed the sleepiness of Alberto Moreno with an offside run before Juan Mata did the same when the "false right-winger" (thanks Louis) caught Moreno in full gob-open nap mode for Manchester United's opening goal. A delightful ball from Ander Herrera was finished by a footballer oft-criticised for his lack of pace but not for his lack of class. And what a lovely finish it was, Mata's 12th Premier League goal for United coming with his 19th shot on target. Given the chance, that delightful boy can shoot.


* That goal not only highlighted the danger of playing with wing-backs - Moreno was far more concerned with the non-threat of Antonio Valencia than the actual threat of Mata - but just how easily Allen and Henderson were bypassed in the Liverpool midfield. Henderson made just one tackle in the whole of the first half and at the half-hour stage had touched the ball less than any other player on the pitch. That is abysmal for any central midfielder, never mind one touted as one of the finest in the Premier League. Talk of Henderson potentially joining Manchester City as Yaya Toure's replacement now looks even more laughable.

* Gerrard has an "encyclopaedic knowledge of this fixture", apparently. There's a new entry under R for Really Sodding Stupid after a rush of blood that led to a stamp that led to a red card after less than a minute of the second half. You can imagine exactly how animated Gerrard was in the dressing-room ahead of coming out to write his own script in the second half. Sometimes having a fan in the team is a double-edged sword; you can care too much.


* After a weekend of yet more refereeing ridiculousness, what an incredibly good performance from Martin Atkinson at Anfield. He was absolutely right to send off Gerrard regardless of venue, perpetrator or his time on the pitch and he was absolutely right to ignore reactionary calls for a red card for Phil Jones for a purely clumsy tackle. Oh and he was definitely right to laugh off hysterical shouts for a booking when Angel Di Maria lost his bearings and caught the ball on the pitch. That's not yellow, fellas; it's comedy.

Neither Liverpool fans nor players had any idea of the seriousness of Gerrard's transgression and their indignant reactions would have made it easy for Atkinson to 'even things up'. He didn't. 'Man does good job' really does deserve applause sometimes.


* "The man that Steven is, he has apologised, and we move on," said Brendan Rodgers, by no means alone in giving Gerrard credit for taking "full responsibility" for what his leg did. 'Man does good job' deserves applause but 'man says sorry for being a d***' really shouldn't.

We have a bizarre obsession in this country for 'fronting up'. Whether you have stamped on somebody's leg, cheated on your wife or mowed down a pedestrian, you get brownie points for saying 'yes, that was me, I did it'. We know you did it, Stevie. You don't have to take 'full responsibility' for us to know what you were fully responsible. Oh and we seem to have missed the apology to the man you actually, you know, stamped on.


* Liverpool actually looked a lot livelier after Gerrard's dismissal, with Sterling allowed to play a little further up the pitch and United forgetting to press. But wind was taken elegantly out of their sails by Mata's second, for which Moreno must take some responsibility once again after losing him in the middle of a one-two with Di Maria.

But never mind the defensive bollocks, feel the sumptuous half-bicycle-kick from Mata. If you have seen a lovelier goal this season then you really must have a better memory than me. So that's 13 Premier League goals for United from just 20 on-target shots. Sloppy.


* Talking of shots on target, Liverpool managed only one - their goal. Now do you give Coutinho credit for the pass, Sturridge credit for the finish or berate David de Gea for being beaten at his near post? While you ponder that, I would prefer to focus on Liverpool managing only one shot on target at home. For the Premier League's in-form side, they were nullified awful easily.

But should we be too surprised? Six goals in their last six games hardly screams 'free-scoring', and neither does a list of top PL scorers at the end of March that reads Sterling 6, Gerrard 6, Henderson 5. For all the talk of a Midas touch from Rodgers, he hasn't made anything turn to goals yet.


* This is conclusion No. 16 and I haven't even mentioned the rottenness of Wayne Rooney, Mario Balotelli being held back by a fan, Martin Skrtel's late and naughty on De Gea or Di Maria's bizarrely impressive haul of nine assists despite being basically awful.

I take full responsibility.

Sarah Winterburn

 

[togg]

Ohhh, shurup Kenny, yer shite liverpool manager you...

 

[Shyftyy]

I have now done groceries, eaten and watched all the sad things happening in the world around us.....but there is no fecking way this smile is coming off my face

 

[Rezyuz]

Got to give credit to Atkinson who I thought had a very good game apart from missing the stamp at the end.

Depends how you see it,

Because i think missing 2 clear red cards is a pretty bad game for a referee.

Skretel red + Ballotelli not getting second yellow for that ridiculous Smalling assault

Any game where the big decisions aren't flawless, is a bad game for a referee and proof that we need video ref.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Wait 'til his verdict on worst performance.

 

[prateik]

Depends how you see it,

Because i think missing 2 clear red cards is a pretty bad game for a referee.

Skretel red + Ballotelli not getting second yellow for that ridiculous Smalling assault

Allen shouldve been booked a second time as well.