Flyin’ Ryan frees Reds from their curse!
At times this season I’ve been wondering whether some of the nicknames we give our players are a mite fanciful – Flyin’ Ryan, Monster Masch, Dynamo Dirk etc. But it was these latter two players who epitomised everything about our stunning victory over the old enemy today.
Beating the Mancs is one thing, a hard thing to achieve by anyone’s standards, playing them off the park is quite another, and I can honestly say that that second half performance was easily our best display of the season.
The Reds lined up with a woeful monkey on their back – they hadn’t scored against the Champions for over 14 hours of league football – and to many peoples dismay we had no Torres, no Gerrard and no Babel, all three being confined to the bench as we handed Riera a debut on the left wing, played Yossi on the right, and used an initially defensive-looking central midfield of Alonso and Mascherano.
Manure were without their talisman also, but handed a debut to £30million new boy Dimitar Berbatov, and in the opening stages he looked like money well-spent indeed.
Berbatov had a snap-shot in the 2nd minute which cannoned into Skrtel’s arm – a penalty would have been harsh, and then 60 seconds later he had reeled in a great flick from Anderson, held off Carragher, and squared the ball across a vacant box to where an unchallenged Tevez raced in a slammed in his first goal of the season. Quite why Mascherano thought there was no danger as he stood motionless and watched is anyone’s guess, but that was the end of his poor performance and from that moment on it was pretty much all Liverpool.
The home side responded admirably – I confess though, even as I watched Kuyt’s sliced volley sail inches wide, it had the feeling of being one of those days, but as the game went on, we kept creating chances. On 25 minutes our pressure finally paid off, and a wicked bending shot from Alonso ricoche’d across goal, Van Der Sar opted for safety and tried to palm the ball away, but he pushed it straight into the leg of the hapless Wes Brown. Riera followed the ball in and probably could have claimed the goal if he’d slid onto it, but we fans didn’t care, it was just the bit of luck we’ve needed in these fixtures.
A side-note on Riera – if you can remember what Harry Kewell used to be like before he became too attached to the medicine cabinet, then you have a fair idea of what this new guy is about. Brilliant debut, based on it alone, it looks like we’ve signed a gem. Takes on players and beats them, can stand up to a challenge and has an eye for a good pass – one backheeled pass to Alonso while under pressure from three white shirts brought a huge cheer from all watching.
Half-time approached with a fair exchange of chances at either end, Liverpool perhaps having the better of it with Keane lurking with intent, but as the whistle blew it was still a sense of relief that we’d made it back to level terms.
Queue the best 49.8 minutes of football Liverpool have produced this season. Man Utd swapped the injured Carrick for Giggs as they looked to balance a central midfield trio that was somehow outnumbered by Alonso and Mascherano, but it didn’t help them.
From the kick off towards the Kop, Liverpool tore into their guests with a bite and ferocity we’ve almost forgotten about in recent years. Challenges were meaty and powerful – and the Reds were winning them all. I don’t believe ManU got out of there half in the first ten minutes of the second period.
Aurelio and Arbeloa were marauding down the flanks with gusto, Keane was roaming around the wide areas linking up wonderfully. A driven left-foot cross from the Ireland skipper so nearly found Kuyt at the back post, only for it to be hacked behind. Mascherano roved forward to a set piece and drove a cross/shot across goal the flew inches past Keane’s outstretched boot and a probable lead.
Even Skrtel marched forward out of defence, carrying the ball past anyone who dared approach, exchanging a one-two with Kuyt and hammering a shot at goal which VDS saved comfortably. Where is Agger by the way? That’s his job surely?
It seemed, incredibly given how these fixtures have gone in the past, that a Liverpool goal was inevitable. The visitors couldn’t get the ball, and when they did they lost it, and every time we got it back we surged forward and created something. As the clock ticked by, Benayoun was brought off to make way for the skipper – a roar around Anfield that only kept the pressure up greeted his arrival.
Another roar greeted Babel’s introduction 3 minutes later. Riera had had an excellent first 70 minutes in a red shirt, but we needed more pace.
7 minutes later the goal finally came, with all us looking nervously at the clock and seeing the time fly by. Mascherano picked up a loose ball on the right and drove forward in-between Ferdinand and Evra. He cut inside the Frenchman and looked to have missed out on beating him as the full-back and England vice-captain tried to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. But Masch would just not give up! He poked the ball through both of them to where Kuyt had read his intentions and followed him in. The work-horse kept his cool as he looked up and saw an unmarked Babel racing into the box. His cut-back bobbled a tad, as did Babel’s shot, but no one cared when they saw the ball crash into the Kop net and give us a very much deserved lead.
In desperation, Fergie threw on Nani to try and replicate Babel’s success for the hosts, but Liverpool were not to be denied their first win in god knows how long against the Mancs.
Even a spot of time-wasting from Rafa as he stopped Ngog from coming on, sent Keane back onto the pitch, and changed his substitute for an unfortunately injured Mascherano was greeted with delight from the home fans, and the win was all but sealed when Vidic committed two straight-red offences and instead got two yellows. A late shot from Rooney at the death had a headline hovering around it, but this was Liverpool’s day.
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