Main Points:
- Penalty Decision - I have to admit it was a bit soft but there was contact and due to this it cannot be called a dive. Berba merely exaggerated the touch on him by Agger and the ref deemed it fit to award the penalty. It was a bit of a surprise that Webb gave it considering his assistant had much the better view.
- Gerrard red card - Finally a referee has the courage to send off the seemingly untouchable Steven Gerrard. It was a nasty two footed lunge that could have ended Carrick's season. Let no one forget that the Liverpool captain has "form" when it comes to tackles like this and general thuggery on the pitch (elbow on Welbeck earlier this season) but always gets away with it as he is the darling of the media. I can think of numerous instances over the years where he has escaped punishment so he can have little complaint. He should reflect that his red card basically cost his team the tie as they may well have forced a replay if he had stayed on his feet. The look on his face as he dragged himself off the pitch was telling - he knew he deserved to be heading for the dressing room but it was funny to see him falling out with Rio prior to Webb showing the red card.
- Poor passing - I lost count of the number of times, especially in the first half, where United lost possession by failing to find a man in the same colour shirt. The passing stats will not make pretty reading and does not help in the pursuit of trying to control the game. Admittedly things improved in the second half but I feel we missed a trick by surrendering possession so often and thus failing to tire out our opponents who were down to ten men. Liverpool were there for the taking after the red card yet we seemed incapable of forcing home the advantage and racking up a few goals to humiliate our lacklustre opponents.
- Positive performances - I was pleased for Jonny Evans who has taken a lot of stick since the West Ham cup tie. It looked like a month out has done him the world of good and has helped to get him mentally back on track. He is still young and loss of form can happen but he has showed enough over the last couple of years to allow patience and he rewarded his manager and fans with a confident display. Numerous times he got in timely interceptions ahead of the workshy Torres and also showed poise on the ball bringing it forward from defence. Another impressive player today was Rafael who seems to learn more with each game he plays and increasingly gets the balance between defence and attack correct. Ryan Giggs rolled back the years and was a hive of incisive running and energy, Rio cruised through the game as expected and gives so much confidence to others around him. Carrick also performed at a higher level than a few recent performances, passing the ball sensibly and without fuss.
- Negative performances - Not too much to complain about really with only Fletcher, Evra (first half) and Nani slightly under performing. Evra seemed to be having one of his lazy days in the first half where he seems uninterested in defending but this may be down to being unwell as he was seen being treated on the pitch. He was a man transformed in the 2nd half and attacked and defended with a lot more energy. After being impressed by Fletcher last Tuesday against Stoke, he was not on form today. This may be partly due to an early yellow card which curbed his aggressive intent to a certain extent but overall he is not enjoying the best of season's which can be said sums up our lack of quality in midfield this season
Overall it's great to be in the next round and a trip to Southampton should be reasonably comfortable. As for Liverpool, it will be interesting to see how they cope without their talisman for the next three games which include a Merseyside derby. Will "King Kenny" be seen as the messiah if he leads his side to successive defeats? Frankly, who cares? They are no threat to us and won't be for many years with the likes of Reina and Torres sure to jump the sinking ship at the end of the season!
What did you make of the United performance and the sending off of Gerrard?
Please leave any comments below.
good review. ... there is no question Gerrard should have been sent off. If that was Lee Cattermole, or any other hard-nosed midfielder for that matter, we would not be having this discussion. Im sorry Gerrard has fallen into that category for his countless acts of thuggery .... The devastating elbow to Danny Welbeck's head comes to mind right away.
ReplyDeleteOur performance in the second half was much, much better, but I do think Ferguson got it wrong with his team selection, because Liverpool had the upper hand with chances could have been created - until Captain Classless' red card.