VIEW: United vs Liverpool. 3-2

With March’s anticlimactic encounter still fairly fresh in the memory, and bearing the
Scouser’s continued levels of shitness in mind – continuing where it left off
from last season, only to add the worsening ability of their one truly world class player to their sorry state – I thought we would undoubtedly win it.

5 points in
4 games read the Liverpool form guide going
into the game; however my apparent confidence (some call it arrogance?) so
nearly neglected our own apparent lack of quality.

We had an
absolute shitter against Rangers in the Champions League earlier in the week,
and more importantly, our last league game, against Liverpool’s
bezzie mates down the road, was 100 times worse; producing one of the biggest
shocks I have ever experienced from a United display in reason years.

So although
5 in 4 reads worse than our 8 points in 4, those empty stats said very little
about our current lack of confidence and depressing inability to hold on to a
lead.

Still, we
started brightly yesterday and positively kept possession; passing the
ball nicely and controlling the play in midfield (Scholes shining with his
effortless genius yet again).

Liverpool
were offering nothing with Torres, as expected, completely unable to get close
to punishing Van der saar (who incidentally didn’t have a save to make all
afternoon).

So it was
only a matter of time before United got the deserved first goal; with inform
Berbatov providing the opener. The notoriously lethargic striker simply
allowing the ball to bounce of his head, however instead of pinging it miles
over the crossbar like he was regularly accustomed to last season, it flew utterly into the top corner. And whose bullshit, lazy attempt at marking allowed Berbs the
space he needed? Fernando of course.

Nothing much changed in the second half. We continued to attack, we continued to pass the
ball well around them, and Nani continued to torment Konchesky. And with one
particularly crucial piece of tormenting came our vital second goal.

Fletcher’s
perfect ball fed Nani, a cheeky dribble and a few step-over’s that
Konchesky couldn't get anywhere near followed, and then he delivered a cross that landed perfectly on the
chest of Berbatov: surrounded by Liverpool
shirts and with his back inconveniently turned to goal.

But what happened
next was unexpected, what happened next was simply magic…and what happened can
surely only be accomplished by a select few players across the world who are
classified as ‘the best’.

As the real
Dimitar Berbatov begins to finally show up, the stunning control and overhead-kick that
smashed the underside of the crossbar before crossing Reina’s line epitomised
what an incredibly innovative talent this man really is. The imagination involved in the goal, as
well as the agility and pure skill, were unbelievable. Surely this act
of genius will finally distinguish any doubts that were so monotonously
reserved for the ‘£30million Berbaflop’.

So at 2-0 with
less that 25 minutes left to play and a Liverpool performance lacking any sort
of positive response to counter our display of dominance signalled a fine win
from United…Surely!?

But as
lessons from recent games have taught us, and must surely be teaching the
opposition by now, United have serious frailties at the back that
become horribly exposed when we least need them to be.

2-0 up
going in to injury time at Goodison
Park…and now 2-0 up with
a quarter of the game to go. Surely it couldn’t happen again? But it did.

If I thought the feeling at full-time against Everton could not ever be
matched, I was wrong. What could be possibly be worse than a crumbling
performance – going from a sure-fire win to a pathetically undeserved draw – against
the one team you always want to beat?

Gerrard’s
penalty (fair) and free-kick (on reflection – and baring in mind the full-time
score – equally fair!) clawed them back to 2-2. But his disgusting ‘kissing the camera’ homage to their 4-1 win two seasons ago was utterly sickening.

How perfect it would be to wipe that smug, premature look of glee from his face - yet again confirming that our players kiss trophies, while their's kiss cameras...

Although this was turning into another match in which we led only to go on and draw (that’s three in four games now) to further suggest that this was now a common occurrence for United…I somewhat romantically knew we
could still win this and embarrass that horrible c**t good and proper.

Maybe it
was the quality of football we played all afternoon? Maybe it was the energy and presence of Scholes, Nani and of course Berbatov (all three of whom were pure class throughout the entire game)? Or
maybe it was simply the fact that there was still a good 20 minutes left of play. Either
way, I had no doubt we would go on and win it.

And as is
often the case in such epic encounters, a hero has to come forward to seal it. So who better than the match's star? Berbatov – to confirm his hattrick, the performance of his life and, most vitally,
the win – rose again to nod in Sheasy’s perfectly placed cross and bring and end to one of
the most stressful half an hour’s of my life!

As Sir Alex
has always said, United love doing it the hard way…as much as the fans hate it.
But as Sir Alex also said yesterday, had the score ended at 2-2 it would have been an absolute travesty.




The
victory truly was a deserved one and one that has restored the fans faith in our
sides ability, as well as restoring our temporarily knocked confidence after recent disappointment.

The obvious issues
at the back still need to be ironed out, but with the likes of Vidic, Ferdinand (only
out yesterday due to a spot of flu) and the maturing Evans, you feel they
inevitably will. But what is for certain, after an encouraging and always arousing win against the Scouser's, is that that was exactly what we needed to raise our assurance levels once and for all.




Another thing is for certain though: Berbatov really is a world-class talent that has probably just needed to adapt to the United way. Add the increasingly pivotal impact of Scholes, Fletcher and Nani (another player who has needed time and hard-work to fit in) as well as the ever potent element of 'Belief' that overpowers many a Ferguson side, and we have ourselves an unstoppable formula.




Oh, and one more thing that's for certain: Ferguson should never be doubted. FACT.