Quantcast
Featured

Brendan Knocks United Off Their Perch

|
Image for Brendan Knocks United Off Their Perch

Steven Gerrard scores from the spotWhile it may be a bit premature to start referring to him as ‘King’ Brendan, he’s certainly taking this current Liverpool side in the right direction, with a full-on, 100mph, attractive style of football that we haven’t seen in over 20 years.

If you tried to describe what Rodgers has got his side playing like you’d be hard-pressed. Perhaps somewhere between Benitez’s intensity and Evan’s attacking flair would go some way to summing up this current Liverpool side. And while they’ve yet to fully grasp the solidity of Houllier’s Liverpool, two back-to-back clean sheets show that they’re definitely starting to grasp the concept.

Against Manchester United this afternoon, Liverpool were well and truly rampant. No in the conventional sense, at least not until the final 15 minutes, but in the sense that Moyes’ side never once looked in any way a threat, whilst Liverpool often looked like they were teasing United, knowing full-well how futile their attempts at defending themselves were.

From the opening salvoes of the game, the Reds were too fast out of the blocks, with chances early on and had Luis Suarez chosen to live up to his – mostly false – reputation and gone down, then the rout may well have started half an hour earlier when, in the 5th minute, he would have been 100% justified in going to ground under clumsy pressure from Fellaini.

The next 25 minutes were a lesson in patience and maturity from the away side, as United were kept at arms length with all the ease and disdain that one could only imagine a world class boxer showing an inexperienced, untested opponent.

Liverpool probed and prodded, whilst ensuring United were never afforded the opportunity to take any chances at the opposite end. And when, in the 32nd minute, Rafael handled a Suarez ball and Gerrard despatched the resulting penalty, it was clear there was really only going to be one winner.

It took until the 45th minute for United to have their first – and, really, only – shot and despite having been untested for the entire half, Mignolet was more than equal to it.

The 2nd half was barely 2 minutes old when the second penalty of the game was awarded, this time for a clumsy shove on Joe Allen and, again, up stepped the captain to put the Reds 2-nil in front. Reds across the globe could probably have no problems getting their heads around such a lead, but from 2 penalties, at Old Trafford?

Well, things only became more bizarre when, after several good chances to increase their lead, Liverpool were awarded a 3rd penalty only for Steven Gerrard to strike the ball against the foot of De Gea’s post.

You could, perhaps, say ‘justice done’ as it was a very soft penalty to give as Sturridge… shall we say ‘fell’ over Vidic’s outstretched leg but given that barely 5 minutes later Sturridge was denied a much more clear cut penalty, United got away with it.

With just less than 6 minutes remaining, it still seemed as if Liverpool were looking for a 3rd as David Moyes chose to meekly submit and allow his side to go down without a fight but while, on another day, Rodgers may have called off the dogs and allowed the opposition to escape with their dignity in-tact, it was clear that this particular opposition were not going to be afforded such luxuries.

And it wasn’t long before we all got what we’d hoped for: a Luis Suarez special. It may not have been too ‘special’ in that sense, but in the sense that Suarez was where it mattered, when it mattered, as hard-work and application from his strike partner Sturridge led to a ball bobbling through to him, just onside, and he controlled calmly under pressure and slotted home the killer goal.

For the 3rd time during the 90 minutes, the Liverpool manager’s smile grew even wider and he punched the air with even more glee as the the result went from convincing to emphatic as Liverpool truly announced themselves as here to stay (this season, at least).

With United wilting, Spurs and Everton now scrapping for a Europa League spot, it’s now down to Chelsea, Liverpool, City and Arsenal for the Champions League places and, more importantly, the title.

With 4 points from Chelsea, and a game in hand, Liverpool’s destiny truly is in their own hands, despite what Brendan Rodgers might say. He will happily allow his players to talk of titles, whilst downplaying his clubs hopes but he’ll know – as much as we all do – that this represents easily the best opportunity to with the league in over 20 years and what a way to kick on into the final stretch – by knocking United well and truly off their bloody perch!

Share this article

I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.

I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.

7 comments

  • nells55 says:

    Excellent performance today. Mr rodgers has been incredible for us. His ability to adapt his tactics are admirable. We need To tie Him to as new contract asap. Maybe the fans might give a song that he well and truly deserves: )

  • k says:

    Dont want to discuss how we demolish manu..

    ok… 6 point we was handling from giant team( ars and manu) .. but only 3 more team we must give a surprice..
    chelsea.. man city ada spurs.. Get more 2 win from this team .. chelsea and man city.. spurs.. still we can win because they are not good form this seasson…

    dont drop a point with sunderland and cardiff.. its very easy calculator.. more 6 game win will ucl or tittle maybe…

  • Oh this was sweet to watch. Even better than the 4-1 comeback in 2009. It was a surprise result back then but this time out, it was almost expected deep down to see the goals come, just to confirm a result that almost felt inevitable.

  • Aaron says:

    Brendan Rodgers bringing the good times back and long may they continue. Thank you FSG for hiring this man to lead our club, we are all thankful to you.

  • Diego 'Digger' Souness says:

    I was the one on this site saying we should go for the title whole others were claiming we werent up for it and accepting 4th place mediocrity, clearly the lads have been reading my comments on here! I was the one backing the youth like Sterling, Flanno etc… Ahhhh, nice feeling of smugness here…

  • godwin says:

    where is that yanna who always slate our majestic captain?where are you hiding,kid?

Comments are closed.