Manchester United vs. Liverpool, timeless teams

By Emerald Gao
Written on October 22, 2006

The entire first half could be summed up as: "Where the Hell Did Our Width Go?" The announcers said 4-5-1 and for one moment I envisioned two anchors and three attacking players in the midfield, but I should have suspected that Rafa Benitez was never going to play that at Old Trafford. Hence, some good pressure in the first half, but nothing that was imminently threatening to Van Der Sar's goal. Man U did have the upper hand for the majority of play, however, credit to them (typed through gritted teeth).

The thing I hate about playing them is that they have such mobile players. Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, and Saha are always running, running, running, and it's hard to keep up with their positions, even from a birdseye view. I'm going to refer to an argument that I made earlier this season about servants to the club, because I just realized that Man U is the perfect foil to this. I may hate them, but I do respect them as a team, one worth beating, one worth hating even, and that's the only reason why I can write so much about them.

When I first started watching football, I only had eyes for Liverpool, but I did watch a good number of Man U matches, simply because that was what was on TV at the time. I remember watching players like Giggs and Scholes and Solksjaer absolutely terrorizing their opponents. This was back in the 00/01 season. Seeing those three on the pitch here, now, in the 05/06 season, is still thrilling in a way, because they've been around forever, and they're quite timeless players. Seriously, if anybody other than Giggs took the ball on the near side, cut across the entire width of the box, and then tried to chip the keeper at the near post with his unpreferred foot, you'd call him crazy and possibly laugh. But when Giggs did it, it was just something that Giggs did. Does.

I know Liverpool does have a strong backbone in Carragher and Gerrard, and Hyypia as well, but in the long run, Hyypia is still the most established member of the team, and he's nearing the end; Carra was shuffled around for season upon season before finally finding his place, while Gerrard is still young, still developing into his leadership position. If, in a few seasons, I can look back on Gerrard, Carra, and a few others as a legendary group, a timeless group, I think I can be happy with the way things have gone. They're pretty great right now, and I think this team does get a lot of respect from fans and opponents alike, but compared to the three Man U players I mentioned, they're still babies. Rafa is trying to build a team that everybody will look back upon and know that they're seeing greatness, and despite all of the frustrating draws and losses we encounter along the way, the humility is a good learning experience, both for the players and for the fans.

Anyway, Scholes's goal was a good one. I can't fault Reina, since he got a hand on it. (And made a fantastic save from Saha later too.) Could Hyypia have been more aware, reacted quicker? Possibly. But honestly, it was mostly due to Scholes's great movement rather than some serious defensive lapse. After the goal, Liverpool seemed to get their bearing back, but there was still not as much wing play as I would have liked, and Gerrard's corners were -- I'm sorry to say -- kind of crap.

Kuyt was still looking a bit isolated, and Garcia looked a bit unsure of where he should be. Xabi nearly got off a good shot right at the end of the first half, but again, couldn't find enough space to really pick out his spot.

The thing I hate most about going into halftime a goal (or more) down is A) that expectancy of something better after the break, and B) the realization, after minute 60, that we're not only not going to see an improvement, but team is going to look worse. That was the case here, and I'm not saying that to be bitter. I truly was unimpressed by no one on the Liverpool team. Finnan was faultless, if not quite outstanding, in the second half, but that's damning the whole team with faint praise.

But really, when Crouch leaves his most lasting impression through a tackle on the opponents' goalkeeper, it's not a good sign.

Anyway, Man U deserved to win, and we deserved to lose. People are going to be criticizing Rafa for the formation, but I do think there's a point where we have to realize that the man can only put out who he thinks are the best 11 players for the situation -- the rest is up to the players themselves. Today I saw a promising start by those 11 players fizzle out flat, but every point lost is another incentive to play better next time, after all. With everything that I said earlier about rebuilding, I can't be too upset at the team, because I'd still rather watch them chug along every week than support Gary Neville.

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