Football Soccer Goals

In a match that was predictably testy, all the drama came in the last twenty minutes as Liverpool and United shared the points at Anfield. It was the same old story for Liverpool, who had plenty of clear-cut chances go begging. A point against the league leaders isn’t the worst result, and once again there were plenty of reasons for encouragement. But given the opportunities they had and the occasion of the match, it’s hard not to come away feeling at least a little disappointed.

As expected, Steven Gerrard made his full return to the squad after a few substitute performance, starting wide in a midfield that saw Lucas and Charlie Adam partner centrally with Dirk Kuyt more advanced in support of Luis Suarez and Stewart Downing on the left flank. The only real surprises came at the back, as Martin Skrtel started ahead of Daniel Agger and Martin Kelly started at right-back, with Glen Johnson completely missing from the squad.

The opening minutes were marked by the usual frenetic pace we see in these fixtures, as both sides crashed around carelessly and apparently had little interest in playing football. Neither side had a chance worth mentioning in the opening twenty minutes, with the hosts doing a bit more of the pressing but failing to create a good look at goal. Steven Gerrard’s cross from a quick corner in the 21st minute buzzed narrowly over Luis Suarez’s head as things started to open up a bit more, but sharp defending on both sides left little room for creativity.

Lucas received a soft first booking of the match in the 27th after coming in late on Ji-Sung Park, and after thirty minutes there was still little to shout about. The only real chance of the half for either side came shortly after the half-hour mark, though, as a Charlie Adam effort from distance deflected perfectly to the feet of Suarez. The Uruguayan turned Jonny Evans on the edge of the area and fired on goal with his left, but the shot was straight at David De Gea, who parried away easily. A booking for Ashley Young gave Liverpool a free kick deep on the right side, but De Gea again parried away, this time from a low Charlie Adam free kick.

United came out strong after the break, winning a free kick on a weak foul from Lucas on Young. Nothing came of it, though, and as the second half progressed Liverpool had the better of possession. Rio Ferdinand earned the third booking of the match just before Jordan Henderson replaced the clearly tired and off-form Lucas. The hosts continued to push forward, with United looking content to play out a draw.

Rio Ferdinand was fortunate to avoid a second yellow with challenge on Charlie Adam, who’d worked his way forward on the break and went down easily. Andre Marriner’s failure to send off Ferdinand was quickly forgotten, however, as Liverpool would take the lead from the resulting free kick.

Steven Gerrard curled one just inside Ryan Giggs, who had peeled off the end of the wall, and David De Gea was left rooted to the spot. Alex Ferguson rung in the changes immediately bringing on both Nani and Wayne Rooney came on after the opener with Javier Hernandez joining the fray soon after. The latter had the biggest impact, netting the equalizer on the second of two quick United corners in the 81st minute. He shook Skrtel, who’d gradually faded from the match, and nodded home after a flick-on.

Liverpool responded well and almost instantly found the go-ahead; an inch-perfect cross by Stewart Downing for Dirk Kuyt was saved by De Gea, and the young Spanish keeper saved an audacious lob from Jordan Henderson ten minutes later. The resulting corner led to a scramble that Martin Skrtel skied, and the last chance of the match fell to Henderson, whose header skimmed just over the crossbar onto the top netting.

*

That it’s disappointing is mostly a good sign—it’s a match that Liverpool could and probably should have won. Wasted chances again leave Liverpool wanting for more, and while their response after the equalizer was admirable, they couldn’t convert when they needed it most. And, as we’ve become frustratedly used to, lax defending on a set piece proves to be a major weakness. So on a day when there were clear positives, it’s the same old negatives that prove to be Liverpool’s downfall.

The most glaring positive was the return of Steven Gerrard, who was all over the place during the 90 minutes. He sunk deeper early to provide support and dictate play, but he was a major driving force late in the match and provided the urgency that Liverpool has lacked at times this season. High marks for Jose Enrique and Martin Kelly as well, with both effectively shutting down United’s play from the wide areas and the former getting up and down the left at will. Better stuff from Charlie Adam today, who looked more composed and less scattered in midfield, and again delivered well from set pieces. Still a ways to go when it comes to defending, but positive in more than a few areas. Jordan Henderson was a major bright spot off the bench, nearly getting the winner on two separate occasions and giving Liverpool a forward-thinking presence in central midfield.

I’m prone to excuse Lucas’ struggles as a result of his late shift on Tuesday night and the long travel day Wednesday. It was his first bad display of the season, and while Luis Suarez had similar circumstances and still performed well, the amount of running Lucas does was handicapped by tired legs, and his soft booking in the first half limited his ability to be physical. Martin Skrtel’s late lapse on Herndandez’s goal is easy to point at, but he was solid alongside Jamie Carragher in the first half. I’d still prefer Daniel Agger, and hopefully the Dane’s omission today leaves him well-suited to come back into the side against Norwich next week.

Slightly puzzling that Dalglish didn’t use Agger or Craig Bellamy at all today, particularly after United got the equalizer. The match was wide open, and while Liverpool had enough chances to make it a moot point, both could have had a role to play. That aside, I think it was a match from which Liverpool can come away feeling positively. They had the upper hand in nearly every regard, and missed chances and a set-piece failure don’t entirely erase the good sentiments from the day. Plenty of progress to be made, but hopefully it turns out to be yet another indication that there’s something special in this squad.

Kenny Dalglish believed Steven Gerrard’s first XI comeback against Manchester United epitomised the captain’s importance for Liverpool.

Steven Gerrard insists striker Wayne Rooney ‘has got to go’ to next summer’s Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.

• Liverpool forward accused of insulting Frenchman
• Referee Andre Marriner put complaint in his report

The Football Association will investigate allegations that Manchester United defender Patrice Evra was racially abused by Liverpool’s Luis Suárez in Saturday’s match at Anfield.

Evra is reported to have told media in his native France that Suárez directed racist insults at him during the 1-1 draw at Anfield.

The FA then confirmed that they are examining the claims after the match referee, Andre Marriner, was also made aware of them.

A statement from the FA said: “The Football Association have this evening been made aware of an incident that is alleged to have occurred during the Liverpool versus Manchester United fixture at Anfield today.

“Referee Andre Marriner was made aware of an allegation at the end of the fixture and subsequently reported this to the FA. The FA will now begin making enquiries into the matter.”

• Anfield spokesman says player was questioned by club
• Patrice Evra has complained in past of racist taunts

Luis Suárez has been accused of racially abusing Patrice Evra in the north-west derby between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield.

The players were involved in a running dispute early in the second half, when Evra was booked for what appeared to be dissent over referee Andre Marriner’s interpretation of their feud.

Evra made his accusation via the French television station Canal Plus, to whom he said: “There are cameras, you can see him. He says a certain word to me at least 10 times.”

He added: “I was very upset. In 2011 you can’t say things like this. He knows what he said, the ref knows it, it will come out. I won’t repeat what he said, but it was a racist word, and he said it more than 10 times. He tried to wind me up. I won’t make a huge deal out of it, but it’s very upsetting and disappointing.”

A statement from the Football Association confirmed they were investigating the incident. “The FA have this evening been made aware of an incident that is alleged to have occurred during the Liverpool versus Manchester United fixture at Anfield today,” the statement said. “Referee Andre Marriner was made aware of an allegation at the end of the fixture and reported this to the FA. The FA will now begin making inquiries into the matter.”

A Liverpool spokesman said: “The first we knew about these allegations was 20 minutes after the final whistle when the manager was asked to go into the referee’s office and told about them. The first thing we did, as you would expect, is ask the player and he has categorically denied using any language of that nature.”

Evra has been the subject of alleged racial taunting before, and complained about it, but Suárez has seldom been out of the headlines since the World Cup in South Africa last year, when he famously handled on the line to prevent a Ghana winning goal in the quarter-final, was sent off, and then was caught laughing about it as his Uruguay side won on penalties to reach the semi-final.

Back playing for Ajax in Holland the following season, Suárez picked up a seven-match ban after being found guilty of biting the PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal. The Dutch Federation quite reasonably deemed that a violent act, and though Suárez’s career in England has so far been free of acts of cannibalism, his undoubted skills have not been completely unblemished.

The red card that Everton’s Jack Rodwell received in last month’s Merseyside derby, widely disputed and subsequently rescinded, came about largely because of Suárez’s theatrical reaction to what was little more than a tap on the foot by Rodwell’s trailing knee.

The Anfield game ended amicably enough – Javier Hernández salvaged a 1-1 draw for United by equalising after Liverpool’s captain, Steven Gerrard, scored from a free-kick – though for several minutes Evra and Suárez were clearly in each other’s faces, with the French defender in particular appearing to be unhappy.

According to sources at the game Ferguson accompanied Evra to speak to Phil Dowd, the fourth official, in his dressing room, and Dowd was then seen to visit the teams’ dressing rooms.

Kickoff from Anfield at 12:45PM BST/7:45AM EST

Ways to Watch:

Live on Sky Sports 2 in England and ESPN2/ESPN3.com in the US.

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Liverpool:

Reina
Kelly Carragher Skrtel Enrique
Lucas Adam
Kuyt Gerrard Downing
Suarez

Bench: Doni, Bellamy, Carroll, Henderson, Spearing, Robinson, Agger

United:

De Gea
Smalling Ferdinand Evans Evra
Park Fletcher Giggs Jones Young
Welbeck

Bench: Lindegaard, Nani, Hernandez, Anderson, Carrick, Valencia, Rooney

Sir Alex Ferguson raised expectations by elevating Manchester United’s meeting with Liverpool to a level above Spain’s “el Clasico” between Barcelona and Real Madrid – then dropped them to the floor with the arrival of his teamsheet. Ferguson’s selection did…

The FA says it will look further into an ‘incident’ alleged to have occurred in Liverpool’s draw with Manchester United on Saturday.

The question of how to divide international television rights and just what’s fair is, at the end of the day, hugely complex. It touches on dozens of other issues that effect league parity and directly mirrors a much older debate about the sharing of gate revenue. There’s greed and self-preservation behind every corner, and it’s all set against the backdrop of a thoroughly broken system that nobody seems especially interested in fixing in any meaningful way. So it’s probably best just to say Liverpool are a bunch of greedy bastards and call it a day…

* Yesterday, Ian Ayre floated the idea of clubs negotiating their own foreign television deals, and today the fallout has begun. Unsurprisingly, the league’s smaller club’s are dead set against it, with Wigan’s chairman angrily dubbing the idea “diabolical” and Stoke’s representatives speaking of their disappointment. Also not a huge surprise is that Chelsea has come out against it, as they don’t have anything like the global following of Manchester United, Arsenal, or Liverpool that would see a reworked distribution deal significantly increase their spending power—as it is, they get more of a benefit relative to the rest of the league by being owned by Roman Abramovich, and along with Manchester City would very much like to keep that advantage if the FA and UEFA aren’t going to fully enforce financial fair play.

More surprising perhaps is that Manchester United has come out against it, especially when one considers that in 2003 they were in fact the ones raising the idea of individually negotiated foreign television rights. Though of course, much like Manchester City and Chelsea, United have their own advantage over the rest of the league: Income from an 80,000 seat stadium.

Lost in all the talk of Liverpool being greedy—lost in suggestions the club is trying to give itself an “unfair” advantage by fully leveraging its global brand value—is that gate revenue too used to be shared. Moreover, a large part of why even a portion of gate revenue is no longer divided is that clubs like Manchester United felt it was unfair for them to bring in significantly more matchday revenue than their competitors without realizing the full financial benefit of that. Yet nobody ever talks of it being patently unfair for United to keep all the money they earn through ticket sales at their 80,000 seat stadium while any Liverpool talk of keeping the money they earn through overseas television deals that at present gets handed out to the league’s have-nots is somehow, unquestionably, labelled a great injustice.

None of which is to say that Liverpool negotiating their own rights would be good for English football—it might not even be good for Liverpool in the long run. But Manchester United, Chelsea, and Manchester City all being able to fully leverage their particular financial advantages while the press and fans of smaller clubs turn their noses up at greedy, greedy Liverpool for trying to leverage their own relatively unique situation is nothing but hypocrisy and wilful blindness. Particularly odious are fans of these few advantaged clubs choosing to join in the public flogging of Liverpool and Ian Ayre.

Perhaps, though, any day now the press will lead the charge for Manchester United to once again donate a portion of their gate receipt to help keep Wigan and and Stoke afloat. And perhaps any day now UEFA and the English FA will show they have a backbone when it comes to dealing with the sugar daddies at Chelsea and Manchester City.

* Last week, Wayne Rooney’s father and uncle were arrested over an alleged betting scam. Then the striker saw straight red with England against Montenegro and will miss the start of next summer’s European Championships as a result. He’s also recently talked about his experiences facing Liverpool back when he was still at Everton:

We didn’t win many at Anfield… to be honest before I used to feel sick I was so nervous, it was a horrible feeling. Anfield is always for me the toughest place to go and win a game.

That might be the nicest thing Rooney’s ever said. Plus it’s nice that his family’s busy giving new ammunition to any boo-boys growing tired of recounting his rumoured past sexual exploits.

* Finally, we talked about Pepe Reina’s new book back on Monday, but since then a handful of further excerpts have been released. Most interesting—and amusing—for readers of this site will likely be the story of how he got into a screaming match with Jamie Carragher one afternoon over whether the team should have been looking to play football from the back or simply launching the ball down the pitch. No prizes for guessing which man took which side of that argument:

He went crazy at me, screaming at me, and I was screaming back at him. We were like that for fully five minutes shouting at one another and getting our point across.

The people who sit in the seats closest to the pitch probably could not believe what they were hearing…

I [had kicked] the ball out wide to where I thought Carra should be, but he wasn’t there and it went out of play.

“You really think you’re Franz Beckenbauer and you’re always trying to play short passes when you should just empty it,” he shouted at me.

“If I know one thing it’s that you definitely aren’t ­Beckenbauer, but just give me a bit of support when I’ve got the ball so we can try and play instead of just kicking it down the pitch,” I responded.

Love him or hate him, it’s probably a safe bet to say that Jamie Carragher is very much not Franz Beckenbauer. Though offering Reina a consistent short outlet would still be nice.

We’ll be back later to start getting everybody in the mood for Manchester United, but in the meantime, just remember that when the option is between digging objectively into a deep and complex issue and just blaming the whole damn mess on Liverpool, there’s really only one viable option…

It wouldn’t be United week if the press wasn’t full of stories about how Liverpool was in some kind of turmoil. In the past it might have been players leaving and managers losing the plot, but this time around it’s been a little more low key—just a bit of talk about how Liverpool’s out to kill football dead because they’re evil, greedy, and not very nice.

Just don’t look over at Manchester United getting to keep their entire matchday revenue, even if there’s no fundamental difference between a club keeping all the earnings from fans looking to watch them in person and a club keeping all the earnings from fans wanting to watch them while sitting in a pub at 6AM on another continent. Especially when one considers that in the past, gate revenue was shared around in a manner similar to how television revenue now is, and that United’s desire to keep all those earnings was a driving force behind the move to how things are today.

But we’ve been over all of that at length already, and as if Liverpool greedily looking to destroy over a century of precious English sporting history isn’t enough of a warm up for Saturday’s match, now some in the media have decided to trot out a series of quotes from Rafa Benitez that show how he, the club, and the fans are all bitter and jealous. Even if there’s a great deal of truth to what he says, especially in light of the hard time Liverpool has been given for splashing the cash on young, British talent in recent months. When asked if Ferguson, with his mind games and press victories, is the primary reason why Manchester United has been so successful in recent seasons, Benitez quite fairly brought up that money has also played more than a bit part in their current dominance:

No, I think it’s the money they were spending. If you analyse the transfer record and the history—Rooney or Ferdinand for example—£30m! £30m for a young player or a centre back. Every year they are very well-off. It’s not just because of the interviews or the press conferences; it’s because they had money.

Given that with inflating player costs Ferguson paid out what would be closer to £50M in the current transfer market than the £30M it was at the time, it does seem at least worth mentioning that United’s success isn’t solely down to their manager’s deity-like brilliance. Especially when nobody seems able to mention Andy Carroll or Jordan Henderson without turning up their nose and sneeringly reminding everybody of how much they cost. Still, it’s United week, so what else would you expect? Liverpool being a bunch of better, resentful, greedy bastards who’ve probably lost the plot is really just par for the course when you get right down to it. And it’s just this kind of talk that seems to pop up before every match against Manchester United that makes Liverpool’s record against them in recent seasons all the more sweet.

With that in mind, it seems like a good time to look back at some of those past moments against United, some of the club’s best in recent years, while we all wait for Saturday to arrive.