Manchester Utd 3 - 2 Liverpool

Manchester Utd's Dimitar Berbatov finally showed signs of justifying his 30m price tag after 3 seasons, by scoring a hat trick to sink the reds at Old Trafford. Liverpool looked out of sorts in the first half, struggling to find any rythm, and failing to create many clear cut chances.

Late into the first half (41 minutes), Dimitar Berbatov managed to beat Pepe Reina while holding off Torres, heading it past the Spanish goalkeeper to make it 1-0 to the hosts. The rest of the first half played out fairly uneventfully, with the stats showing that Liverpool enjoyed more possession.

In the second half Liverpool seemed to up their game but Berbatov struck again in the 58th minute withan overhead kick that bounced off the crossbar and into Pepe Reinas goal. Some pundits have been touting this as brilliance and genius and such, however, it seemed more luck than judgement.

In the 62nd minute Evans brought down Torres in the box, and Liverpool were awarded a penalty, with Howard Webb failing to send off the offending player. Gerrard duly converted and the game was on.

In the 69th minute, John O'Shea was spared major blushes as he dragged down Torres just outside the box, who was clearly through on goal. The person who should be blushing is Howard Webb, for blatantly handing Manchester Utd the game on a plate. To think that a referee who was in charge of the World Cup finals didn't have the bottle to flash red is out of this world.

Gerrard stepped up again, and Darren Fletcher bottled it as Gerrards chest height drive came towards him. The ball sailed effortlessly past Van Der Saar and into the inside of his left post. 2-2.

Late in the second half, ALex Ferguson could be seen clearly to be berating the linesman, giving him verbal abuse over what was clearly a no-brainer decision for Howard Webb. And yet, Ferguson will walk away unscathed, his influence over the FA once more standing him in good stead. Disgusting.

Then there seemed to be a lull, as Liverpool seemed to accept that Webb was clearly biased against them, or so it seemed. In the 83rd minute Berbatov sealed the result with his hat trick, beating Jamie Carragher in the air to nod past Pepe Reina's outstretched right hand.

All in all, Manchester Utd had a very lucky break, with John O'Shea failing to walk for a stonewall red card offence. Alex Ferguson was once again bullying the linesmen, and Wayne Rooney decided to try and waste time holding the ball up near the Liverpool corner flag towards the end, which seemed to be a sign of desperation, and a display of nerves.

This was a typical Mancunian display of "do what we have to, even cheat, to get the win". Very disappointing in the world of modern day football. Liverpool deserved more help from a disillusioned referee today, and were very unlucky not to walk away with a point. Still, the Anfield return awaits, and with any luck the referee for that day will be wearing his glasses.

Game: Manchester Utd vs Liverpool (Sunday 19th September) (Away)

One of the juiciest fixtures of the season is here. Liverpool travel to Old Trafford, hoping to leave with the bragging rights.

Last Season's Results

March 2009 - Manchester United 1 Liverpool 4
What a day this was as the reds went all out and destroyed the Devils 4-1. The scorers that day were:

Torres 28th minute
Gerrard (pen) 44th minute
Aurelio 77th minute
Dossena 90th minute

Highlights

Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool Highlights 14.03.2009 en Yahoo! Video

It was universally agreed that this was the Stevie and Fernando show with all the action in the midfield up to the front controlled by the terrible two. The team just oozed confidence and control that day, owing to the inspirational Captain and the greatest striker alive, and actually reminded me a little of the brash, swaggering, swashbuckling Liverpool of old.

October 2009 - Liverpool 2 Manchester Utd 0
The Reds couldn't believe their luck as once again they ran out victors at home courtesy of goals from David N'Gog and Fernando Torres.

Highlights

Fast Forward to Now
So, reports around the web are suggesting that Fernando Torres and Wayne Rooney will be the two most dangerous men on the pitch tomorrow. Myself, I can't bring myself to agree with this, owing to the fact that Fernando Torres has a way higher goal-to game ratio than Wayne Rooney. This makes Torres the most dangerous man on the pitch. If he really pulls it together. Recently, Torres has looked less-than-sharp, a shadow of the gloriously gifted player the footballing world knows him to be. But Liverpool fans also need to keep David N'Gog in mind. The young Frenchman has now bagged 6 goals this season, and is really turning out to be a promising prospect.

Bleak Prospects
Can Liverpool really walk away with a win tomorrow? Reports around all the major newspapers suggest that this hinges on one player - Fernando Torres. This could be cited as unfair and completely blown out of proportion when you look at a certain Frenchman's contribution to the club so far this season. Torres just needs a little more time to get his sharpness back and after all Roy Hodgson's priority here is to keep him fit and injury free, a difficult task at the best of times when taking care of the best striker in world football.

Prediction here:

Manchester Utd 2 - 3 Liverpool


YNWA