Date: 17th October 2011 at 11:39am
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It was billed as the match of the season, Sir Alex Ferguson called it the biggest match of the Premier League whilst King Kenny Dalglish just called it ‘any other game with three points up for grabs’. When I saw the Manchester United starting lineup for the match on Saturday I was shocked. They had left the likes of Rooney, Nani, Anderson, Valencia and Chicharito all on the bench and instead opted to go with Park, Giggs, Welbeck and Jones.

Clearly United had come to Anfield to defend and stop us from playing them off the park. These are negative tactics but we had to deal with them.

A lot has already been said about Charlie Adam and how ‘easily’ he went down to win the free-kick that resulted in Gerrard’s goal. But if you look at the replay you will see that Ferdinand made contact with Adam’s foot and thus it was a free-kick.

Gerrard stepped up and did it again for us! For those who thought Gerrard was ‘finished’, guess again, our captain still has a lot to offer and it showed on Saturday. I would have taken him off after the goal as you could see that he was starting to get tired which is only natural as he is still not 100% game fit.

United managed to pull it back with a goal from Chicharito which should never have been if Skrtel did not slip. But that is just how the game goes I guess.

A 1-1 result may not have been the fairest result as we should have taken all 3 points and as Dalglish highlighted after the game, the lads were upset by the result.

Looking at the performers and the not so great performers in a red shirt on Saturday: Suarez was his usual tormenting best and should have gotten on the score sheet. As a team we played well considering that United came to defend but if I am to pick out a couple of Liverpool players for comment it would firstly be Lucas.

Lucas did not have his best game on Saturday and the yellow card he picked up did not help matters and Dalglish was right to sub him off. I am getting a bit worried about Stewart Downing, he is very much a confidence player and he is not playing with a lot of confidence right now. He needs a goal or a good performance under his belt now.

Jordan Henderson looked decent when he came on and you can see he feels much more comfortable playing in the middle as opposed to the right. Long term I can see him playing in the middle and maybe pushing Lucas for a slot in the starting lineup.

Who was Liverpool's man of the match against Manchester United?

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5 responses to “Who shone and who flopped against Manchester United?”

  1. paul gio says:

    Agreeing with what you said for the most part… apart from downing, he had a great 2nd half making runs and crosses on the left, i was surprised by kenny didnt opt to switch him to the right later on in the game to keep utd’s defence guessing. but the 5 man midfield seemed to work as we on top for a lot of the 2nd half.

  2. bit gutted about the game the scum put 10 man behind the ball all game wasnt a pretty game there was 2 players that i feel didnt have a good game was lucas im sorry but i dont rate him at all but some people might not agree ……and 4 my next player that no good skterl oh my god how does he get in that side please kk come jan please sell him he couldnt tackle a rice pudding …..i thought luis saurez was brillant bit annoyed we didnt start with big andy carroll but cant grumble look where was this time last year under woy hodgson i have faith in kk a

  3. Gerrardious says:

    why dont u leave the diving arguments to the bitters?? am disappointed we didnt win though

  4. Gerrardious says:

    why dont u leave the diving arguments to the bitters?? am disappointed we didnt win though. still cant understand why KD didnt bring on Bellamy or Carroll to caution the Mancs from bombing forward in the latter stages. just sayin

  5. janz says:

    gutted v din win… it was ol us n yet had to share the spoils… hate 2 say this but the dumb red nose must have laughed his heart out at the result… was’nt there 2 more substitutions still left… i really thot KK wud bring on atleast bellamy b4 the 80min mark… nyways, i wish we beat them at OT (sure gonna b a lot harder tho)… believe in KK !!