Football: Man Utd 2 - 1 Liverpool: Alas!
Sigh... Liverpool lost last night. 2-1 to two very sloppy Silvestre headers that he should never have been allowed to make. I'm waiting for the token office Man Utd fan to come in anytime now and gloat. Sigh...
I have to admit that going into this match, I was more confident of winning this fixture than I ever was in the past three seasons, mainly because Liverpool's football has been better under Benitez, and the 2-0 against Monaco was a damn good result, no matter what critics may say. It's been a long time since I've been this excited about a Liverpool team.
HOWEVER, this game was a sign that a lot still needs to be done. The first half was total shambles, with Liverpool not passing the ball at all, and MU dominating all the way. A few scares here and there, with Ronaldo being the most impressive. Luis Garcia should have marked Silvestre more tightly, and should never have given him that free header. Overall, the entire Liverpool team were pathetic in the first half, even more so when Gerrard left the pitch injured.
The 2nd half was much better. Liverpool were actually attacking. Granted, Cisse (and later, Baros) hardly had a touch of the ball due to good defending by MU, but Kewell, Luis Garcia and Finnan were attacking down the flanks, and forcing MU back. Xabi Alonso was my best Liverpool player (along with Finnan), and Alonso's halfway line lob would probably have caught Tim Howard out (if he hadn't been dropped and replaced by Roy Caroll, that is)
The own goal by O'Shea was good luck, but at least we got something. I was already hoping for just a draw, but then, the silly team had to go and make the EXACT SAME mistake again, allowing Silvestre a free header from a corner. Sigh....
Thoughts after the match: Even though we lost, I'm still actually happy with the way Liverpool played in the second half. Under Houllier, when they had a bad first half, they would almost always continue the second half in similar fashion. But this time, I could see that the players were more determined, more confident to make up for the lousy first half, and this can only mean Benitez is a pretty good man-motivator.
Also, the way Liverpool has been attacking (the first half of this game aside), and the good performances by Josemi, Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia has got me very optimistic about the future of the team under Benitez. After sinking so low, there can only be one way to go - UP!
Anyway, we still have a game in hand, and if we beat Norwich (and MU slip up against Spurs) this weekend, we'll still be ahead of the Mancs. HAH! And I STILL think that we're gonna finish the season above MU. So there!
