Actually, it wasn't the first chance he got, he turned down Robben's appeal too. And hey - that WAS a penalty on King, unless kicking Smertin's ankle doesn't count. Same as the penalty Saha won against Huth last year. Oh, and that was the first penalty we won on the road in 3 years.
A thoroughly deserved three points for Manchester United today. I didnt actually think we could pull off the victory without so many key players and Liverpool's current form but we did and we deserve credit for it. Some points to make... 1) Rooney's winning goal was placed well IMO but Dudek should have had it. Granted if you watch closely the ball seemed to dip right at the end and seemed to confuse Dudek, anyways a keeper for an EPL team should always have that but in this case I am happy he didnt. 2) Roy Keane is still the most important midfielder in England. The man is a machine and is the commander and chief for United. The way he positions and composes himself it seems as if he can play until he is 50. He shut down Gerrard and kept most attacks at bay before they fully materialized. God how I will miss the Irish lad when he call it a day! 3) The referee was sure card happy but I can't have any complaints over Brown being sent off. Two stupid tackles, two cards which equals a sending off which was what he deserved. I do however feel United were unduly looked at more then the opposition. Gerrard (whom I admire) got away with two fouls on Scholes and never even got a foul let alone a card, anyways a tough game to officiate I imagine. 4) Without Ruud, Giggs, Ferdinand and G. Neville who would normally be starting I hope some of the critics will be see that we actually have depth. Without the inclusion of Smith, I hope it is a rest not an injury. 5) And finally, Gabriel Heinze has now replaced the ever respected Dennis Irwin. He can defend and attack and is very confident in himself. I already love the lad and he hasnt even had a full season with United yet.
As for the game - it was the same as our win at 'Pool. You got "lucky". On the balance of play, it should have been a 0-0 draw. But when you play tight defense, things like that happen. Luck, that is.
I would argue that we deserved our 1-0 win. We had the Keano shot off the bar plus the goal. Yes Dudek was at fault but it was a decent shot on target. LFC did not create anything really even after we went a man down. So, on balance I think we edged it 1-0. Now against you LFC created some chances at least.
we definately deserved the win...if liverpool had played well enough to warrant a goal after the sending off, then it would have been quite harsh, but the fact that we were rarely troubled after the sending off, is indicative, that we deserved the win.
Possibly... but had we not gotten that goal we would have played differently... your match against Pool in the last minute... after going up we sat back a bit more... especially in the second half... Liverpool had 70 mins to get an equalizer against us as opposed to 5 against you... if you asked who had the better chances at goal you'd give the edge to us I'd think whereas in the other game I thought Pool looked more like scoring... oh well, just opinions... matters little I guess...
What a great result...getting 3 points at Anfield was vital to our trophy run. Now if only someone else in the league would step up and beat Chelsea to help us close the gap.
Review: 0.Roy Carroll is really being carried by a strong back 4 these days. Didm't have much to do today but still looked a little shakey. We need a new GK that much is obvious. 1. Mikel Silvestre actually looked like a proper quality defender today. Why the hell can't he play like that all the time he was literally our ice-man at the back today. His decision making was excellent and his choices of play were nearly alwys correct. On that form he and Rio should dominate the EPL for the next 5years. 2. Gabriel Heinze is as superb back there as I thought he would be when we signed him. His side of the pitch is nearly always a lock and he covers his CB's in a way only a player who has played CB would know how to do. He is an absolute headache for the opposition as he always pops up with a block tackle or gets his body in the way of dangerous shots. most notably his block on Hyypia from that corner. Excellent stuff. 3. Wes Brown made a ton of hard aggresive tackles today and it was the only thing lackingfrom his game in the past years. He's showing he is a class act when not injured. He did deserve the sending off but his performance pleased me as it's the first time i can recall him being really aggressive and ushered forwards where he wanted them rather than just react. 4. Phil Neville is actually doing a better job back there then his brother! >_< didn't think i'd be saying that but Phil has been playing really well, he looked like a 1st teamer out there today and he has more tenacity then his brother which helps his RW a great deal. 5.Roy Keane My Man of the Match. Yet again showed he is the best DM or whatever you want to call him in the league. He completely subdued both Gerrard and Hamann and was a dominant, experienced and calming force in the middle, unlucky not to score with his superb drive. If only we had an understudy for him for the smaller games in the league . He is by far the best big game player in his position in the league. Above both Makelele and Vieira and showed that Gerrard has a way to go to match him in these kind of games both in our game vs. them at OT and at their own ground. 6. Paul Scholes Just like Keane, Scholes is the best in his position in the league and it was shown again today. His touches and play were superb throughout and he made it look like Hamann wasn't even on the pitch. What really impressed me today was his tackling. He put in a lot of tackles and only did one 'Scholesy special' in about 12 foot ins. Without his presence today we wouldn't have dominated them in the 2nd half..and we certainly wouldn't have been able to play such quality keep ball with 10men without him. Would have been MOM if it wasn't for Keane. 7. Darren Fletcher Is really growing up. His passes are improving and his overall game is maturing..and that's not just because he's playing in his natural position..it's quite clear he has stepped up his game(probably sick of getting flamed by Keano i'm sure) his harrasing ability is going to be one of his biggest assets as a player when he put his game together in a few years time. He needs to combine that harrassment with precise tackling and he may well have a future in the 1st team one day. 8. Cristiano Ronaldo some of the rubbish in this thread about him having a poor game is just that, rubbish. He was given a job brief by the coaches and he did it superbly. Taking the ball far from our backline and laying it off when he had occupied 2or 3 opposing players was what he was told to do and he did it, well. He was involved in a lot of little passing triangles and I was happy to see that this element of his game - short, sharp ground passes - is improving. His crossing and dead balls were poor overall but his main brief today was not to get crosses into the box so he can be forgiven for that. I would just like to see him shoot at the right times..since getting told he is too selfish he never shoots..that is to extreme a change, lol somewhere inbetween would be just fine Christy 9. Wayne Rooney like Ronaldo has been given a different brief of late and he's doing well in terms of helping out his midfield. His pass distribution has been awful of late though but his workrate has been through the roof. Scored the winner, even though Dudek made a trademark blunder to let it in, Impressed with how he is coping with stick from away supporters. Today he was up against his most hated enemies and didn't let them effect his game at all. Still needs to stop lashing out though...towards the end of the game he could've seen himself sent off for retaliation and also his backchat to referees needs to stop. 10. Luis Saha 2things are blatantly obvious: 1. he is really wary of getting injured again and is shying away from almost all risky situations and 2. he is not ready for 90minutes yet. Visably tired after 65minutes. We'll see the best of him in 4-6games time when his confidence and full match fitness return. Subs 11. Fortune aggresive...pretty much all he does is get stuck in. It is good to have him back though. He has experience and knows how to help our team. Sad to say but he is our best alternative from the bench for a number of situations. Richardson wont get many games with Fortune back. 12. Bellion n/a didn't have anything to do. Overall, we out-played, out-fought and out-did Liverpool at their own ground and completely silenced the crowd. So nice to see them tottering off home with only 85mninuts played always a sign they are disgusted by watching the away team doing a number on them..we went to Anfield and did a better job then either of our rivals did there and with the way we are playing ..in spiite of our numerous injuries to major players it suggests at our best we are the strongest in the league. The away game to Arsenal and the home game with Chelsea will show us just who has the best players in the crunch games. I'd put Keane and Scholes over anything the others can offer. We're not out of it yet and our form suggests we may be about to go into overdrive...again.
Thanx DS... nice analysis although I see things abit differently with Phil, Fletch and the GK situation... I think we've done well w/out Gary but that we miss him still... Fletch is still looking poor... not positionally lost but still giving the ball away and taking too long to do that even... and I think Carroll was good today and is a good keeper in general - he's had a blunder or two but I don't think there are too many keepers in the league better than him... 3 or 4 maybe but he's still good.
Anyone with a good link for grabbin' video, like bit torrent, would appreciate sharing it. Didn't wake up in time to watch the game today. gracias!
This thread has an [R] and I think that Motterman said that you are not suppose to imply results of other matches or something so. I dont know. I think it is in the TOS or some shite so.