Tag Archives: United

Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool Match Report

26 Sep

The Kopite View Season 2012-13 Part 2 is now available on kindle format, buy it here at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kopite-View-Season-2012-13-ebook/dp/B00DP7UIGQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1372521782&sr=1-2&keywords=the+kopite+view  All the money from the sales of both books will be going to help http://hfsg.co.uk/ please help them by buying my book JFT96

 

Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool Match Report

 

Liverpool were eliminated from the Capital One Cup against Manchester United at Old Trafford after Javier Hernandez’s goal proved the difference between the teams on the night when Luis Suarez returned for Liverpool. Liverpool dominated most of the match but could not break the United defence.

 

The Team

 

Brendan Rodgers selected a strong side to face United although Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger and Coutinho were still missing through injury. The big team news was the return of Luis Suarez after serving his 10 match ban. Mignolet kept goal with Toure at right-back and Skrtel and Sakho in the middle of defence and Enrique at left-back. Liverpool had a midfield consisting of Moses, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson and Suarez supporting Sturridge in attack.

 

The Match

 

United started brightly at the start of the match putting Liverpool under pressure and Nani’s deflected shot caused concern with Mignolet wrong footed but it fizzled wide.

 

After a hectic opening Liverpool gradually came into the game and established their passing game. A clever passing exchange between Suarez and Sturridge released the latter , who raced towards goal before prodding narrowly wide from the edge of the area.

 

Another attack saw Suarez control a long pass behind Johnny Evans but De Gea raced out to smother the danger. Liverpool were now in the ascendancy and were restricting United to very few chances in the final third.

 

Although Liverpool were bossing possession they were finding it difficult to create many chances against United’s resolute defence as both goalkeepers were virtual spectators.

 

But Liverpool were caught cold in the first minute of the second half when they conceded a corner which Rooney fired into the 6 yard box to Hernandez who found a yard of space to shin past Mignolet to give United the lead.

 

Liverpool responded with attacking urgency and almost equalised but Henderson’s side-footed effort went well wide after a clever back-heel from Sturridge.

 

United remained a threat going forward and Mignolet made a good save tipping over Kagawa’s powerful shot. Then Suarez ghosted past a challenge before firing into the side-netting.

 

Liverpool continued to press for an equaliser and they went very close when Enrique’s volleyed cross invited Moses to attempt a diving header but he directed his header straight at De Gea who made the save.

 

Then Suarez curled a free-kick from the edge of the box off the top of De Gea’s crossbar. With 15 minutes remaining Rooney produced two efforts in quick succession which threatened to kill off Liverpool’s hopes of an equaliser.

 

The first was a superbly taken free-kick which Mignolet pushed away before Rooney’s 20-yard curling effort was again denied by Mignolet from the resulting corner.

 

In the closing moments of the match Liverpool came close to taking the game into extra time first when Henderson whipped in a shot towards the near post which took De Gea by surprise smacking against the post before Suarez rolled the ball across to Toure, but the big defender dragged his effort off target as United managed to hang on to progress to the next round of the Capital One Cup.

 

Summary

 

Brendan Rodgers started as strong a team as he could and it was great to see Suarez back in action. But I thought United were there for the taking when I saw the team that Moyes selected with no Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Carrick and van Persie to name a few regulars. But after a good opening spell by the hosts it was all Liverpool possession and it is probably the best Liverpool have played this season. But for all the possession Liverpool never created too many chances and once again failed to score in the second half. It was a terrible goal to lose right at the start of the second half and another from a set-piece. How Hernandez found so much space inside the 6 yard box was criminal and should provide a steward’s enquiry. Suarez looked a bit rusty as expected but he gradually grew into the game. Skrtel was superb at the back once again and Mignolet pulled off a couple of great saves to keep Liverpool in the game. Sturridge was disappointing once again and looked frustrated similar to his appearance on Saturday. Very disappointing to lose the match against United after playing so well but Suarez returning to the team is a big plus and exiting the cup can hopefully help Liverpool concentrate on the league.

 

 

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Liverpool 1-0 Manchester United Match Report

1 Sep

The Kopite View Season 2012-13 Part 2 is now available on kindle format, buy it here at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kopite-View-Season-2012-13-ebook/dp/B00DP7UIGQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1372521782&sr=1-2&keywords=the+kopite+view  All the money from the sales of both books will be going to help http://hfsg.co.uk/ please help them by buying my book JFT96

 

Liverpool 1-0 Manchester United Match Report

 

Daniel Sturridge provided a fitting tribute to Bill Shankly with a 4th minute winner against old rivals Manchester United at Anfield on the eve of the great man’s 100th birthday. Sturridge scored his 3rd goal in 3 matches as his goals have been enough for Liverpool to record three 1-0 wins to start the season and fire them to the top of the league which is appropriate as Liverpool celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bill Shankly.

 

The Team

 

Brendan Rodgers suffered a few injuries in midweek against Notts County with new signings Cissokho ruled out for possibly 6 weeks along with Kolo Toure who was stretchered off in extra time and Joe Allen also had to come off after picking up an injury. Forgotten man Martin Skrtel came back into Liverpool’s defence with the absence of Toure. Simon Mignolet kept goal with Johnson, Enrique and Agger alongside Skrtel in defence. Coutinho, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Aspas and Sturridge made up the rest of the team.

 

The Match

 

Anfield produced a tremendous tribute to the great Bill Shankly on the eve of what would have been his 100th birthday by producing a mosaic on the Kop and a minute’s applause prior to kick off.

 

The game kicked off with United surging down the left flank before a Giggs cross was easily collected by Mignolet.

 

But in the 3rd minute Liverpool won their first corner of the match which Gerrard took and he found Agger who headed towards goal only to be diverted into the United goal by the head of Sturridge and send Anfield into raptures of delight.

 

The goal lifted the already noisy Anfield up a notch as the Liverpool fans celebrated. But United responded and van Persie went close with an overhead kick.

 

The game started to shift from end to end as Welbeck forced Mignolet into action before Gerrard produced an effort at the other end.

 

United started to settle into the game after the frenetic start and a corner taken by Young missed everyone as it rolled along the 6 yard box.

 

Then Johnson produced a superb block as Welbeck looked to fire in an equaliser. But Gerrard was orchestrating Liverpool’s midfield superbly as they enjoyed good possession.

 

Next it was Liverpool on the attack as Gerrard fired a free-kick on target but De Gea was equal to it. Aspas and Cleverley picked up yellow cards as things became a bit heated and Cleverley’s booking resulted in Liverpool receiving a free-kick in a dangerous position but Coutinho’s effort was high and wide.

 

Then within the space of 2 minutes United picked up another 2 yellow cards when Carrick and van Persie were punished.

 

The referee blew for half-time with tempers flaring as Gerrard and van Persie squared up to each other.

 

United started the second half on the attack and pushed Liverpool back as they looked to draw level. Glen Johnson had to head a dangerous cross behind for a corner as the pressure mounted.

 

Then Gerrard took a free-kick but Agger headed over. But United were dominating possession now and van Persie had the next effort but it was deflected wide.

 

Then Young had a volley blocked after Agger’s weak headed clearance before Welbeck thought he had won United a penalty after colliding with Aspas in the box.

 

Brendan Rodgers brought on Sterling for Aspas with 30 minutes to play in hope of giving Liverpool an outlet with his pace. But the game became very scrappy with both teams losing possession too easily.

 

Substitute Nani’s corner kick was then headed over by Giggs at the near post as United kept up the pressure on the Liverpool defence.

 

Moments later a dangerous run by Evra was brought to a halt by a crunching challenge by Glen Johnson which resulted in the Liverpool defender having to be replaced by Andre Wisdom.

 

Then Nani unleashed a rocket from the edge of the box but Mignolet punched the shot to safety as Liverpool continued to defend.

 

With time running out for United they produced the chance they wanted when van Persie was slipped through behind the Liverpool defence but for once the Dutchman fired into the side-netting.

 

With 5 minutes to be added on at the end Liverpool kept possession in the United half before Sterling surged forward before firing a shot into the top corner which De Gea tipped over the bar.

 

Anfield celebrated when the final whistle went as Liverpool made it 3 wins from the games.

 

Summary

 

The tribute for Bill Shankly was special before the kick-off and the atmosphere inspired Liverpool to get early goal. I was worried about Skrtel being recalled to the team because of Toure’s injury but Skrtel was brilliant and was my man of the match. Skrtel’s performance was more impressive because of the fact that he hasn’t been playing regularly for the last year. Liverpool didn’t play as well as previous games but the work rate and resilience was impressive as United pushed for an equaliser in the second half. Gerrard was superb and produced a few great tackles and I liked the way he sorted out van Persie before half-time. Glen Johnson was also brilliant in defence and he produced a couple of bone crunching tackles, unfortunately one of them resulted in him having to leave the field. But Liverpool made a big statement by beating United and proved that they can compete with the big teams and the result can only boost confidence with the fact that Liverpool are top of the league.

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Farewell Sir Alex

8 May

 

Farewell Sir Alex

Saw the news last night on social media networks that Sir Alex Ferguson was retiring at the end of the season. I took the news with a pinch of salt and as wishful thinking. But the news broke this morning and I have to say that as a Liverpool supporter I am very happy that he has decided to retire.

I wish he had done it a few years ago to be honest but glad this day has finally come and I’m sure a few people around the country will celebrate this news. The response of his retiring has a similar reaction to Maggie Thatcher’s passing.

OK so envy and jealousy of Fergie’s success and his achievement of knocking Liverpool of their perch as United have overtaken our haul of 18 League titles under his reign has made me long for this day. But as joyous as the day is it must be gut wrenching for the supporters of Manchester United supporters as their “Sir” announces his retirement.

United fans knew the day would come but dreaded thinking about it. Now is that day and although they have a great squad of players and are current Premiership Champions, the future remains uncertain. It doesn’t matter if you are a supporter of Manchester United or Rochdale whenever there is a change of manager the future is unclear, and after the success enjoyed under the leadership of Fergie his successor will have a very difficult task of continuing his great work.

Candidates of his successor have already been mentioned and the top two at this time of writing are Jose Mourinho and Davie Moyes.

Mourinho is a tremendous manager and I think he would sit comfortably on Fergie’s throne and achieve more success for United. I think Mourinho would also lure Ronaldo back to Old Trafford.

Moyes is a great manager in his own right and he has done a marvellous job at Everton over the years on a shoe string budget and he has shown great loyalty to Everton, but for Moyes to get the opportunity to manage Manchester United it would be very difficult for him to decline the chance.

It would be a totally different challenge for Moyes at United with expectations so much higher than at Everton. Moyes is also lacking in European experience which would be needed at United.

So personally I hope United choose Moyes for Fergie’s successor as I think it could be too different a job from what he’s used to at Everton, and I think he would struggle.

But I remain happy at the fact that there is change at long last at Old Trafford after constant domination over the last 20 years which Liverpool enjoyed during the 70’s and 80’s. Liverpool had more managers during that time but it was men who knew the club inside out, Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish.

United have relied on one man’s great managerial qualities for a very long time, just like they did with Matt Busby and when he left they struggled. Football seems to work in cycles and I’m hoping a new cycle is beginning in the way it did when Busby left and United don’t win another title for another 20 or so years.

I never liked Fergie as a manager, like I said earlier I was envy and jealous of the success he brought to United, but I didn’t like the way he constantly berated officials and very rarely showed respect to his opponents after a defeat. His collection of silverware is second to none but he lacks the class of Shankly, Paisley and Matt Busby in the way he conducts himself compared to them.

But at the end of the day his style of management, love him or hate him, has won him countless trophies and you can’t take that away from him. So in a mark of respect from a Liverpool supporter to Sir Alex Ferguson, I wish you a happy retirement but I am glad to see you go.

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