Boy it's been a long wait to use that title for a post review. Anfield had turned into a nightmare for the past few seasons, so much so that the fixture was soon becoming a write off. Yes, Liverpool have been getting poorer for the past few seasons but they always seemed to save their best for us. Even the headless chicken that is Dirk Kuyt seemed to transform into a mega world class player when United visited.
We were therefore due a win there sometime and even going into the match, you did feel confident that United had a team that could go there and not get overawed and outrun by Liverpool.
Admittedly, we were very poor in the first half, but we did defend considerably well. In fact, I thought Rio and Jonny held themselves out well as a partnership.
Such games usually hinge on a moment of madness and or brilliance. Thankfully for us, it was Shelvy that would get the rush of blood that saw him go full throttle into a challenge with Jonny Evans. Our boy came off worse and Liverpool were reduced to 10 men. Cue Paul Scholes.
It's a bit odd that we never really seemed to get going until Liverpool took the lead. We can only thank goodness that it was way early in the second half and so we had enough time to sort out our attitude towards the fixture.
Rafael scored an absolute peach of a goal. If and when the boy learns how to defend without recklessness, he'll be a joy to behold in the side. At the moment, it seems a regular berth in the side is the only way he'll improve.
I thought Shinji Kagawa did well to withstand the bullying he suffered throughout the match. I have no doubt in my mind that he's an absolute complement to the qualities of Carrick. Whereas the latter hardly makes it to the opposition's penalty box, the former is always in and around it providing clever inter-play with the forwards and hence keeping the opposition defence away from our midfield.
Finally it was a relief to see us put away a penalty. You can imagine what would have gone down if RVP had missed our fourth penalty of the season. It's now 5 goals in 6 appearances for the Dutchman and at this rate, he'll pay back a lot of the millions we invested in him.
And then there was NANI. Quite why the boy doesn't do the simple things right remains a mystery. His talents remain important to Manchester United but until someone finds that key to unlock that genius wholly, he'll remain the subject of a huge divide between fans.
Finally, we can't afford to underwrite the importance of another three points on the board. For as long as we are not top, its important to remain as close to the summit as possible. Chelsea are the pacesetters for now so it was imperative that we keep tabs on them. It's quite a daunting fixture list coming up but you do feel that its possibly just what we need to keep our game top.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!
Such games usually hinge on a moment of madness and or brilliance. Thankfully for us, it was Shelvy that would get the rush of blood that saw him go full throttle into a challenge with Jonny Evans. Our boy came off worse and Liverpool were reduced to 10 men. Cue Paul Scholes.
It's a bit odd that we never really seemed to get going until Liverpool took the lead. We can only thank goodness that it was way early in the second half and so we had enough time to sort out our attitude towards the fixture.
Rafael scored an absolute peach of a goal. If and when the boy learns how to defend without recklessness, he'll be a joy to behold in the side. At the moment, it seems a regular berth in the side is the only way he'll improve.
And then there was NANI. Quite why the boy doesn't do the simple things right remains a mystery. His talents remain important to Manchester United but until someone finds that key to unlock that genius wholly, he'll remain the subject of a huge divide between fans.