Liverpool 3 - 1 Man United - Talking Points

Liverpool welcome Man Utd to anfield on Sunday for a face off which seemed to have more at stake that recent fixtures between the clubs. There were a number of reasons for this. For Liverpool, we have had to endure a torrid season of ups and downs and although things had started to look up recently, a comprehensive defeat to (at the time) bottom of the table West ham last week had reminded everybody that we should not get carried away with our resurgence just yet. For Utd their team has stayed top of the table and looked the most likely side to go on and win the Championship, the critics however had been blasting them for being a very pedestrian side and not in keeping with the dynamic champions previously produced by the club, this gave them a point to prove too, a convincing win against their old enemy would help show them as worthy title contenders. There was also the small matter of the League tally. I’m sure people don’t need telling that if United win the league this year they will finally surpass Liverpools long held record of 18 Championships, and while the players and management certainly played down the importance of this in the run up to the game but for fans I know it means a lot that we do whatever we can to stop Utd over taking us. While this subject is on people’s minds, I may as well point out my own feelings on the subject. I’m not all that bothered to be honest. Dont get me wrong it will hurt if they do it. It will hurt to no longer hold the record, but we’ll still have something to cling to, 5 European Cups. Its just that I feel the stigma of number 19 has been over us for so long I just want it gone, preferably of course by us winning number 19 and extending our lead. But I am actually at the point now where I thinks its probably best just to get it out of the way even if its Utd who take number 19. At least it will be out of the way and we can start concentrating on winning just because we are Liverpool, rather than purely wanting to win in order to stop Utd. Remember, we weren’t always the record League Title holders, we had to come from behind before and we can do it again! Anyway, enough of that on with the talking points from the game:


Pass and Move is the Liverpool Groove:

Its amazing to look at some of the players under Kenny and try to remember all the stagnant performances from earlier in the season. At times in this game it was hard to determine who was playing where across our midfield. Meireles, Kuyt and Maxi seemed to be interchangeable at any given moment, even Suarez dropped deep and allowed the midfield to advance ahead of him. It pulled the Utd defence about creating spaces for us to exploit and create chances. Its a refreshing and exciting style of football which can leave you as happy after a game for how you played as you are for the result achieved.

Individual Brilliance:

We had seen skills enough from Suarez already to lead us to believe he had enough about him to make it at Liverpool. He still looks raw or course and he is still acclimatising but already he looks like he will replace our previous hero seamlessly. It will be a while yet before this can be proven true but right now he looks like he could actually a better all-round player than torres. And before anybody starts this isn’t a case of me trying to say “well I never liked Nando Anyway”, I did I loved him, and there are strengths he had that Suarez may not have. But there are also strengths Suarez has that Fernando does not. The first of which being his unselfishness. Its natural for Suarez to look for a team mate when on the ball in a way it never was for Torres, if you don’t believe me just ask Robbie Keane. Sure he was always ready to play a quick flick to Gerrard in the early days, but as his time at Liverpool wore on he became more inclined to go it alone when in or nearing the final third. This was a potent weapon for us when he was bang on form but when it didn’t work, if Torres wasn’t bang on form, it was most certainly to the detriment of the team as a whole. With Suarez, he has shown at least glimpses of Nando’s greatest attributes, work rate, stamina, pace, skill, shot when these qualities are allied to a more team orientated player whey are each more important.

Dirk the Striker:

I have admired Dirk Kuyt since he came to Liverpool. He just doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Nearly every time you hear people compliment him there is a “but” or some sort of qualification take the good out of the initial statement. He came to Liverpool as a striker, Martin Jol, In-charge of Spurs at the time of his arrival famously said "I said last year, when nobody knew him, that he was a '20-20' player - 20 goals and 20 assists a season," said Jol. "In Europe there is maybe no-one else who is a '20-20' player. This statement from Jol may not have proven to be true in the Premier League but it shows his achievement and commitment none the less. He was happy to sacrifice his place as the goal scoring threat for Liverpool to help the team on the right side of Midfield. He still manages to pitch in with important goals every season. Don’t forget he also scored in Athens in 2007. Although he ultimately ended up on the losing side that day, very few players can say they scored in the European cup final. This game was a reminder from Dirk. A reminder that he is a striker, not the right-midfielder we have gotten used to at Anfield, and an effective striker too as shown by 3 absolute poachers goals. A reminder also that even if we put in more money over the summer, Dirk will fight to stay in the team wherever needed. He has won such battles before, he has been picked by numerous Holland managers ahead of other, more fashionable” names again and again.

The Colossus snuck on:

The result and performance were so good that it kind of drifted by without too much hoopla but Andy Carroll finally made his Liverpool Debut when he cam e on for the last 2 or so minutes on Sunday. He didn’t have a lot of time to do much but it was important none the less to get it done so he can start to feel part of the set up. He had a few nice touches but of course we can’t read much into that just yet. The most important thing was just to get it done.

Defensive Injuries are clocking up:

It was important to remember everything wasn’t rosy on Sunday and we did pick up another injury to a defender. Its not surprising to hear that it was Fabio Aurelio who joined Martin Kelly and Danny Agger in the treatment room and we are not in dire straits yet but we can’t afford to lose anybody else right now or we could be in trouble. Carragher could have joined the list of unavailable for his harsh challenge on Nani but luckily he was spared by the referee. Carra is probably going to play at full back a bit more now, as he did on Sunday, as cover but he doesn’t look comfortable there really. Perhaps Danny Wilson will show his capabilities but either way we are short of a left back and that will need to be addressed quickly over the summer.