Post-Saturday showdown (Man U vs Liverpool 1-4)

Let's get it straight firsthand. I am a Manchester United fan and have been so for as long as I can remember. But i do think that i am objective enough to be able to accept defeat and to give credits to the opponent whenever they're due.

No doubt, it was a painful defeat tonight. Liverpool, one of the contenders for the title this season, beat Man U with a flattering score of 4-1, at Old Trafford. It was a exciting game throughout. Fast-paced with both teams attacking, and a little bit of drama thrown in to add spice to the game. But in my opinion, it was not a match of brilliance (except for the free-kick by Aurelio), but rather a match of two fair penalty kicks and defensive errors. I can't remember any clear cut chances or brilliant saves. Attempts on goals consisted of mostly 50-50 chances. But Reina did make the most of what should have been routine catches (or some people would call it goalkeeping practice). Enough to put someone on the brink of a heart attack.

Like i said, all of the goals could have been avoided. You could argue that if the two penalties (one each for Man U and Liverpool) were not conceded, there was a high chance of the impeded moves ending up in a goal anyway. So penalties aside, let us analyzed the other 3 goals (all for Liverpool). Two of them were results of defensive mistakes by Nemanja Vidic. Vidic has been a defensive stalwart for Man U for the past two seasons, and I have never seen him play this badly before. His first mistake allowed Torres to burst through on goal. As the last defender, i think Vidic was trying to chest the ball back to Van der Sar. But it ended up with him misjudging and miscontrolling the ball. The third Liverpool goal resulted from a similar mistake by Vidic. In a similar fashion, he misjudged the ball, which allowed Gerrard to break through. Only this time, he (Vidic) hauled Gerrard down. And to make matters worse, Vidic was rightly red-carded for being the last man and stopping a goal opportunity. What resulted from the direct free-kick conceded was a wonderful goal by Aurelio, which i think was the only moment of brilliance throughout the match.

By then, Man U were already 3-1 down. And a desperate Fergie had already thrown in three substitutes (Giggs, Scholes and Berbatov) in order to launch a full-fledged assault on Liverpool's goal. So Vidic's sending off meant that Man U had to play the rest of the match with only 3 true defenders. It was really not Man U's night when Dossena (a full back!) manage to score a lobbed goal against Van der Sar for Liverpool's fourth goal and thereby driving the final nail down Man U's coffin. With 10 men, Man U was already fighting a lost cause.

The showdown between the top two teams in the EPL tonight really shows that football can be a game of avoiding mistakes as much as it is a game of brilliance and attacking prowess. If you don't believe me, try asking the Italians who perfected the art of catenaccio and sitting back after a one goal lead and avoiding mistakes. However, as previous seasons have shown, losing points to your main rivals is less of an influence to winning or losing the title race compared to dropping points against smaller teams. Something which Liverpool have been guilty of too many times this season. After all, Liverpool once led Man U by a handsome 10 points. Man U still has a game in hand to restore the 7-point lead at the top. The battle at Old Trafford ended up with Man U on the losing side and they probably deserve it. You cannot commit so many mistakes against a team like Liverpool and expect to get away with it. Nevertheless, the season is far from finished. No points for guessing who i am rooting for for the title.