Sunday, October 16, 2011

Manchester United Fortunate to get Draw at Anfield

If Sir Alex Ferguson had the intention of going to Anfield and coming away with an away draw he was successful. A draw against such opposition as Liverpool can rarely be considered a bad thing.

And the fact that Manchester United looked for the most part out of sorts and disjointed makes it an even better result.

Yes, Sir Alex rotated the team following the week's Internationals, that was to be expected. And following Wayne Rooney's not so good week in which he was given a 3-match ban in England's European matches, I suppose keeping him out of the starting line up against Liverpool made some sense. But, not just the players, but the tactics seemed wrong.

It's understandable that the United manager wanted a fresh XI for matches in the Champions League and against Manchester City in the coming week. And, as it turned out, a loss is what needed to be avoided, but it was a gamble that only just paid off.

Liverpool were the better, more cohesive team. They went in the lead in the second half through a Gerrard free kick where the United wall failed to keep together as Giggs broke away and the ball flew through the gap.

Minutes later one of the three United substitutes, Javier Hernandez, does what he does so well, score, to bring the sides level at 1-1. And that's how it finished. Whether it was a point gained or two points dropped is open to debate, but judging from the way United play I'd go for the former.

The double blow was that Manchester City went to the top of the Premiership after their 4-1 demolition of Aston Villa.

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