Quantcast
Featured

On Shifting Gravities at Old Trafford

|
Image for On Shifting Gravities at Old Trafford

Manchester-United-v-Liverpool-3249232While watching Liverpool games, I am often messaging with friends who are also Liverpool fans. It helps to add perspective. Here are some oft-asked questions:

“Was that really a foul? We got away with that one didn’t we? Am I the only person who thinks the referee is having a good game, because the commentators certainly don’t tend to think so… Why does Emirates sound so bloody quiet, Arsenal are winning aren’t they?”

This Sunday I was live-messaging a friend of mine in Melbourne, and when Dan Sturridge thundered way wide of the near post, I suggested to him that I thought our #15 was not going to have a very good game, because his first few touches are normally an indicator of how he is feeling out there. He disagreed. He was right, well, sort of.

The ball just seemed to be getting away from him. He was stretching for them, He was leaning back on them. He was trying though, our Dan, but it just. Wouldn’t. Come. Off.

In truth, when you look at his movements when not in possession, he had a great game. He stretched and harangued the punch-drunk United defence. He let them know that right now, and for this World Cup, he is England’s number one striker. And his hard work paid off brilliantly when another one of his scuffs ended up at the left foot of a very grateful Luis Suarez.

But this article isn’t an alaysis of Sturridge, or a eulogy of Liverpool’s performance at Old Trafford. That has been crowed about ad nauseam: how Brendan Rodgers outthought David Moyes, how the Liverpool strike-force is the polar opposite of the United one: hungry, interested, and exploitative of the freedom afforded to them; how Liverpool have their destiny in their own hands and United are on the cusp of a post-Busby-like slump…

All of those claims may be true in varying degrees, but today I would like to talk about gravity.

There’s something I like to call ‘Footballing Gravity’. And no, it is not scientific at all. In fact, its not even pseudo-scientific. You won’t find dissertations on it. No one has researched it, or even written about it much. Keep it between you and I, but I could be on to something.

For much of the game at Old Trafford, the footballing gravity was quite average. Luis brought out his new boots, and let’s be honest, they weren’t the bomb were they? He lost his footing a couple of times. And though the midfield was doing a brilliant job of harrying and pressing the United midfield, often, when the ball was won, there was very little end-product attached.

The one person who restored the Gravity was Steven Gerrard. There were the penalties of course, but for a player whose only weakness is the occasional bouts of ‘positional indiscipline’, he was immense in how cleverly he used the physicality and mobility compensations offered to him by Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen respectively. Whereas one protected him, the other created space for him, and Stevie sauntered into space: a slide-rule to the side here, a pressing ball into the flank there. When Steven Gerrard moved his feet on Sunday, almost everything came off with unerring ease.

I am not superstitious, but I have been knocking on wood very often in the 48 hours since. We are not going to win the title. We are not going to win the title. We are not going to win the title. I’ve taken to that like a rosary. People have been bringing up that 4-1 under Rafa, and perhaps we did look demonstrably sharper on that day, but that was a glitch in the matrix – something that shouldn’t have been but was. It was the game that spawned pub trivia: Which game featured two crackers from Liverpool left-backs? United at Old Trafford, Mr. Quizmaster!

And for bonus points: Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena.

What it was not was a forecast, and a prelude of things to come.

But this is different in that it was not an accident. The experts called it. They said United were there for the taking, and this time the hierarchy at Anfield didn’t flinch and deny the apparent superiority. They understood the gravitational shift, and this was not the time for conservative gamesmanship. With Champions League qualification all but secured, Brendan Rodgers has looked at the cards the fixture list has dealt him, and he has decided that it’s time to release the hounds of egotism.

Sometimes that egotism is good. Because for over two decades, Liverpool Football Club has gone to Old Trafford more the cheeky chappy than the mature athlete.

But it’s here now, that old pass-and-move force.

And Ps., that was a dive by Daniel Sturridge, but United were lucky to get away with just three. Enjoy your week. It’s one to savour.

Share this article

1 comment

Comments are closed.