Authors: Stretford End, Doron and Nik
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It’s sad really that many will expect to be reading about non-footballing issues on a piece written about a football game. To be honest, the biggest disappointment post-match was that the Guardian have discontinued their chalkboards and therefore here ends analysis via that method. Anyway, United moved temporarily top after a generally comfortable win over Liverpool as Rooney scored a quick-fire double. Scholes came in for Ashley Young in the only change from the Chelsea game. Liverpool surprisingly left out Bellamy and Suarez came in to start for the first time after his ban.
Here we discuss the talking points of the game and invite Liverpool fans to join in the discussion below.
Scholes and Carrick roll back the years – aided by Giggs duel role
In a game where controlling the tempo in midfield was always going to be key, Carrick and Scholes combined perfectly to steer the game in United’s favour as they sought to capitalise on a misfiring Liverpool midfield, a centre without its usual bite and guile. The last two affairs between the sides have largely been drab encounters with little creativity from the centre, but Fergie’s decision to start Giggs alongside Scholes and Carrick worked wonders.
Nominally starting on the left, Giggs applied his duel role to near perfection today, coming inside to assist the once again telepathic Carrick and Scholes duo. When the latter pair weren’t dictating the game, exchanging passes, and generally stamping their authority on the game, they were chasing, harassing and intercepting the ball, aided by the Welshman who sat deep in order to match the Liverpool trio across the centre. (Gerrard found himself doing the work of three as Spearing and Henderson were anonymous – Adam and Bellamy were surely the better options here for Kenny.) It was roughly a year ago that United’s central pairing were due to start against Liverpool (away at Anfield) for the last time, yet here we were again – just weeks after another decent display from the duo at Anfield – being reminded of how important this axis has been to United’s success in the last 5-6 years.
Carrick famously took the shirt that belonged to Roy Keane, and Old Trafford struggled to warm to the lanky England International early on, particularly given his more cerebral approach to controlling the ‘middle of the park’; but when alongside Scholes, his confidence seems to beam, and only a few weeks ago Carrick jokingly pined for the 37 year-old’s return in an interview. On today’s performance, where taking the game to the opposition was more important than usual, we can see why. The metronomic passing from the centre was pivotal to the outcome, and though Giggs’ passing wasn’t as accurate as usual (see Rob’s ‘Pareto Principle’ here), his positional play and his ability from set-pieces caused Liverpool all sorts of problems.
Danny Welbeck – United’s all rounder
Danny Welbeck should now be considered the main partner for Wayne Rooney at Manchester United ahead of Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen. Welbeck was sensational against Liverpool on Saturday and his close control, power and movement demonstrated how much of an all round forward the 21 year old is. His hold up play, diagonal movement and strength helps Wayne Rooney and co play balls in behind the defence or indeed support United’s number 19 as he out muscles a centre half.
Welbeck gave Agger and Skrtel a torrid time all game, whether it was dropping deep, pressing high up when Liverpool had the ball or playing on the shoulder. The following highlights Welbeck dropping deep and having the skill and vision to pick out Rooney with a deft flick.
Scholes plays the ball into Welbeck who has dropped off Skrtel:
Welbeck’s flick is perfect and straight into the path of Rooney who then lays the ball off to Scholes, who movement is still top class:
Scholes lays a superb ball out to the left flank for Giggs, but Welbeck – not content with his excellent build up play – is already on his bike into the box anticipating a pass from Scholes:
In the second half, Giggs intercepts a pass to Glen Johnson and breaks down the left hand side. Welbeck has already picked up a great position in between the two centre halves, with Agger obviously concerned with Rooney‘s movement (The final ball from Giggs was poor and went out of play):
Lastly, this example highlights all his attributes as a forward. The ball starts on the left hand side (as United comfortably played the ball across the back line) with Evra playing a one two with Giggs. Evra then finds Scholes in acres of space, a massive error for Liverpool all afternoon. Notice Welbeck’s starting position is deeper than Wayne Rooney for once, however as soon as Scholes gets the ball – Welbeck has accelerated away:
Instead of Welbeck, Scholes plays a pinpoint pass to Giggs who has moved down the touch line. Notice that Johnson had pushed high up on Evra so he is now out of position. This means that Skrtel now needs to come across, leaving Welbeck free to receive a pass from Giggs:
Giggs plays the ball in behind, but Johnson reads what is happening and sprints back to intercept the through ball from Giggs as Welbeck closes him down. Johnson is the clear favourite to deal with this ball and should put it into touch:
For some reason, Johnson takes the ball into the corner flag and scuffs his clearance, due to the presence and strength of Welbeck. United’s number 19 then proceeds to dribble into the box and setup Giggs, who crosses low into the box, which is then cleared:
Danny Welbeck has become one of England’s brightest young forwards and should now be considered the main man to partner Wayne Rooney. This is an enormous compliment to pay to a player, considering the partnership Hernandez and Rooney struck up last season. Hernandez will definitely have a say, especially in games where the opposition play a high line – but for now, Welbeck is first choice. A class performance from the young man.
Rafael and Evans
It’s becoming a bit repetitive now but yet again, Rafael and Evans were supreme.
Rafael showed further maturity to his game defensively. He’s become strong and powerful when the ball is both in the air and on the ground. His timing and decision making with regards to jumping into tackles is now consistently good and he appears to have been watching Evra closely – he jumps early enough now to ensure he can win most headers (as seen by impressive leaps vs. Carroll). His performance wasn’t flawless, there were signs of rustiness at times and he appeared a little more reserved going forwards but there’s little doubt that he should now be set for a long run at right back.
Evans has not only silenced any doubters but is now getting praise from many quarters. Match Of The Day even dedicated a segment of their ‘analysis’ to his performance against Liverpool. He was supreme, winning header after header and showing incredibly mature defending – not committing too often but reading the game perfectly. Alan Shearer was spot on in highlighting his composure as a top asset. On the ball Jonny was excellent, using it wisely and having the confidence to run it out of defence, often after a top piece of control. Not that Jonny is a “confidence player” but right now he’s clearly buzzing.
Did Kenny get his selection wrong?
Not a lot to say about this but Kenny potentially made a couple of errors. Bellamy, despite playing a lot recently, was a shoe-in to play. His running and pest-like annoyances would have been perfect against United. Suarez was lively early one but despite scoring appeared quite emotionally involved in the game and maybe Carroll would have been a better option, testing United and De Gea in particular aerially. Downing’s form didn’t really deserve a start and Spearing was all over the place. Leaving out Maxi and Adam were mistakes and an attempt at over-complicating a system that’s worked well recently.
Evra and Suarez
Sadly, it would be wrong to overlook the fracas that went on between Evra and Suarez. The tone was set early on when Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand and it seemed to continue throughout the game. Suarez, as mentioned, was emotionally involved in the game – complaining as many decisions didn’t go his way and he foolishly kicked the ball away at half time leading to a scuffle at half time.
Post-match Evra was entitled to celebrate in front of the home fans but should have been more tactful in terms of crossing Suarez’s path (probably purposely) to reach the Stretford End.
Since the game various apologies and statements have been issued yet there is still a lingering discomfort with the situation, best summed up by Ian Ladyman in the Daily Mail.
Summary
Another controlling but entertaining United performance ended with the right result as they outclassed Liverpool all over the pitch (and off it). Two second half goals from Rooney were enough to clinch the win despite a late goal from Suarez. Carrick and Scholes controlled proceedings whilst Welbeck’s work-rate and energy constantly had Liverpool on the back foot. Valencia was nigh on unstoppable at times and really, Rooney should have scored three or four.
United travel to Holland now to face Ajax in the first leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday. With no weekend fixture, expect a strong team to play and potentially minutes for the likes of Cleverley and Fabio.
Suarez kicked off the trouble on Saturday but Evra is a pillock as well. He should’ve shrugged his shoulders and commented after the match about the handshake and he oughtn’t to have celebrated as he did. And when he DID do that fair play to Suarez for not taking the bait.
Regarding the game, the only that concerned me watching it is that we didn’t get the third goal to kill Liverpool off. Evans’ missed header and Rio’s slightly sluggish reactions gifted them a goal to get them back in it and it wouldn’t be beyond us to have to conceded a second to chuck the points away.
Pleased with Evans on the whole, but I’ll be more sold when he does it for a year consistently. He’s always been able to play very well but as with a few of our players, he’s prone to blowing hot and cold.
there was a situation where rio was switched to LCB or RCB (don’t remember) in 1st half of the season. He’s playing at LCB now obviously, providing more cover for evra?
We’re very uncomfortable with Suarez, and wish he would just go away.
http://tezini.com/sports/11146/luis-suarez-sports-villain-real/
The talking point for me here was Giggs. In the first half he played very narrow as you point out in the article. He was almost playing as part of a midfield three. This was so clear that it must have been a deliberate ploy. Perhaps Sir Alex had decide that United had to play this way to stop Liverpool getting the upperhand in the centre of the pitch.
In the second half this changed, with Giggs tending to stay wider. As a consequence United’s attacking play was more balanced. The goals both came from United’s right, but our attacking was perhaps more effective because of the balance.
If a team can concentrate on a threat from one side alone then it is bound to be easier for that team to defend. It was noticable in the first half that with Giggs playing narrow our thrust was significantly right sided. Our best chance came when we were able to quickly switch the ball across the pitch, breaking this predictable pattern. Our delivery then from the left created a great headed chance for Scholes, which he should really have converted.
Giggs staying wider after the break did allow Liverpool to get more of the ball centrally. This was perhaps inveitable anyway as after concedeing two goals early in the half they had to sieze the initiative.
Love this article. This is my favorite series of blogs on the Internet. I love the Talking Point series, with the tactical analysis and player performances. But I’m sad at the loss of the Guardian Chalkboards. I even emailed them about it, and they said that their contract is up with Opta Sport and isn’t going to be renewed. The StatZone app from FourFourTwo is similar, but I’m sure you already know about it. I liked the Chalkboards more, but if it’s gone, hopefully you can get the same type of information from StatZone for this series.
Anyways, love the blog and especially this series, so please keep up the good work.
RangeRooney on Twitter
Thanks for your kind words Range Rooney. Yes we will try to use FourFourTwo as much as possible
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