Marching on in controversial fashion (vs Liverpool)

By: Shaun | January 9th, 2011
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On to the next round after scraping past Liverpool 1-0. The game was decided on a penalty that really wasn’t a penalty, but we did look the better side and this was aided by Gerrard’s dismissal midway through the first half.

Impressions as follows:

1.Surprised to see Evans in the lineup when an in-form Smalling was available for selection. Evans more than justified his inclusion however with some timely interceptions and adventurous runs from deep with the ball. He looked more assured today than in any other game thus far this season. To top it off, he nearly nicked a goal in 1st half stoppage time, but was denied by the post.

2.On initial evidence, Howard Webb looks like a United fan based on his major decisions in the game. The penalty was soft and really should not have been given. I struggled to see the kind of contact that would have made Berba go down the way he did. The red card for Gerrard however was the right call. Even Dalglish who viewed it on the touchline monitor appeared to accept the justice in the sending off.

3.Liverpool did a great job on Nani in one of his quieter games this season. He did find more room to work in the second half, but that was true for the rest of our team with the man advantage. 11 on 11, they closed him down whenever he got the ball.

4.All their good work in counteracting the threat from Nani was effectively nullifed with Maxi and Meireles being poor in the middle. Their contribution primarily came in the form of long range shots that were high and wide. No surprise that when they were both replaced at the hour mark, Liverpool posed a greater threat going forward.

5.Giggs continues to surprise everyone with his consistently high level performances especially in the past 2 months. Aside from the well taken penalty, every time he dropped his shoulder in this game, it looked like he was about to do something magical. There was the splendid run to open up the second half, and numerous other moments where his touch and movement were a reminder of why he’s still a permanent fixture in our lineup at his age.

6.United as a whole looked sharp especially in the 2nd. Then again, we had a one man advantage AND were playing at home. However, the big issue that has haunted us all season continued to plague us, and that was our frustrating inability to kill off the game. We created chances on both flanks with Evra and Giggs continually looking to torment Kelly down our left. Unfortunately, both Berba and Chicharito spurned the half chances that came their way.

7.Kuszczak didn’t have too much to do except for that second half diving save off an Aurelio free kick. Got me thinking about our keeper situation next season especially since the whole world knows that we’re going into the summer transfer window looking for VDS’s replacement. Prices are going to be inflated when we come asking about a keeper and Sir Alex as we know, refuses to be held to ransom. If he deems that there isn’t “value” in the market for a keeper, does that mean Kuszczak starts next season as our No. 1?

* In an interesting development, Bayer Leverkuson and Germany keeper, Rene Adler has come out and confessed his love for United. Apparently, there’s a £15m buyout clause in his contract that comes into effect if United ever show interest. Let’s sign him up Fergie!

Some Related Man United Posts:The Berba Show (feat. Liverpool)A win on Boxing Day (vs Sunderland)The Berba Show pt 2 (feat Blackburn)Perfect ending to a tumultuous week (vs Stoke)Still undefeated (vs Arsenal)
Category: FA Cup, Manchester United, Match Reports Tags: Berbatov, Dimitar Berbatov, FA Cup, Liverpool, Manchester United, Match Reports, Old Trafford, Patrice Evra, Ryan Giggs, Transfer Speculation
    Tweet « News/rumors from around the web – Jan 7th | Home | Jejeyeah... dive.Swapnilagree with most of the points except that we looked sharp.apart from that one move when reina made 4-5 savs in a row,we never ever troubled him at all!!!in fact for me the team looked LAZY all the time,there was no urgency,no desire.if we hadn't got that stupid penalty we would never have won this game!!!and i would not rate evans performance so highly as had faced a 10 men team whose striker is playing so poorly that even neville would have done well today!!!!!
overall another poor performance but a win nonetheless.its been ages since we won the fa cup,i really want us to win it!!!!blog comments powered by Disqus
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