Liverpool vs. Manchester United, redux

By Emerald Gao
Written on March 4, 2007

I'm sick of having to write these posts. I'm sick of the expectancy of writing these words twice a season -- it's not the loss that hurts, it's the who involved, it's the way Liverpool lost.

On one hand, if they couldn't win after all of that -- the possession, the attacking intent, the near-misses, even the ref was surprisingly on their side -- then maybe you can chalk it down to dumb, stupid luck.

And on any other day, I might have done so. But this is Manchester goddamn United. With them it's always dumb, stupid luck. Last season we lost at Old Trafford in much the same fashion -- a last minute free kick after ninety minutes of hopeful pinging around, which, okay, wasn't the most exciting thing ever, but Liverpool looked steady. In control, even.

Today, the team had something better than hopeful, they had heart, and even better, they had chances. When Bellamy (after owning Vidic for the Nth time) overhit his cross to Kuyt, when Riise's shot screamed past the post for the second time, when the replay showed that Momo made definite contact before Bellers's goal was chalked off, when Van Der Sar palmed away Crouch's half-volley, I thought, okay, this is dumb, stupid luck again.

I don't believe for a second that O'Shea would have stepped on the pitch at all, had Scholes not been sent off. And there's the dumbest luck of all. One midfield lynchpin removed, seemingly a blessing, only for his mediocre deputy to come on and make himself a hero.

Still, football isn't wholly dictated by karma or chance, and the day-to-day history of the Premiership rarely reflects anything than results and titles, and so this will go into the books as a Man U win no matter how much more we wanted it.

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