Man Utd 2 v Liverpool 0

1) The first thing you can say about Liverpool, and in a way defends their poor start to the season, is that they’ve gotten their hardest 4 away fixtures out of the way before the end of October. If they could have written down the four toughest away matches of the season before the fixture lists were released, the names Manchester United, Chelsea, Everton and Bolton would unquestionably have been the ones on the list. By bad luck or interference of those fixture lists (who knows who compiles them or how random they really are?) the quirk is that they have got them all out of the way not even a quarter into the Premiership season. This, if you are being ultra positive, can enable Liverpool to go on long winning runs of form here on in….

2) However. There are problems with the Liverpool team. The first thing that appears strange when watching them this season is how clumsy they appear to be and how often they concede possession. Right throughout the team. The centre backs constantly give the ball away, the central midfield play is sloppy at times and often gifted the ball to Manchester United in dangerous areas. The front players don’t appear to link well with the midfield and there is just a muddled feeling to all of Liverpool’s moves. What also appeared and appears lacking is the sort of movement that a team like Arsenal show.

3) There are player problems right through the team. To start with Jose Reina isn’t a Championship winning goalkeeper. I’m not talking about the mistake in the last minute of the Merseyside derby that gifted the wildly overrated Andrew Johnson the 3rd Everton goal that afternoon. I’ll leave that sort of analysis and ridiculous hype to the Media Turds. No, I’m talking about the lack of saves he makes to keep his team in it at vital times. The sort of saves that if a keeper doesn’t make he won’t get blamed for but if they do gives his team an extra 10/15 points a season. Some Keepers just have the gift for this, most don’t. That’s what separates them from the rest. Peter Schmeichal had it. Peter Cech has it. Jens Lehmann has it. Reina doesn’t . It was the first two goals in the Merseyside Derby that at least one of which should have been saved and might have made a difference. Similarly verses United, if Scholes effort have been stopped and I can imagine say Cech doing so, it might have made a difference.

Then there’s the defence. The sooner Sami Hyypia is demoted to fourth choice centre back the more Liverpool will improve. He is slow, gets turned easily, his distribution is awful, constantly gets caught out (see how Scholes drifted in without the Fin reacting) and generally adds to the insecurity at the back for the Reds. He is playing on the back of performances five years ago.

Next there’s the midfield issue. In particular, Steven Gerrard. The problem stems from the Media Turds eulogising of him and in his belief in it that, in turn, creates his whining whinging performance in games such as United. Gerrard is a great impact player, someone to come up with the goods when you need it, to rally his team. He is not however, someone you can build a team around. He lacks the football intelligence to do so. His touch is too heavy, he’s always looking to drive the team on and often wastes possession. He runs around too much when a bit of thought would be much more beneficial and this often leads to Liverpool not dominating a game that they could because of the ultra-high tempo the skipper injects into his teams flow. Gerrard moaned at his teammates when they misjudged their passes to him at Old Trafford yet it makes him look all the sillier when he wildly overhits a ball for Dirk Kuyt, which had he judged right, could have seen Liverpool take the lead. Media Turds like Jamie Redknapp scratch there heads at why Gerrard isn’t playing in the middle but he has played there in many games against big teams and not performed. People point the Champions League match against Olympiakos, the 2005 Champions League Final (again his contribution somewhat overblown by the Media Turds since) and the FA Cup Final this year. But that’s just the point. That’s what Gerrard excels at. Driving his team on, making an impact. He is not very good at dominating a game for ninety minutes through constant team possession pressure and that is a current problem. It’s also a problem for England.

Another problem is Xavi Alonso. Is his style of play wasted or not effective in the Premiership? Is it a luxury that works better in Europe? Every Premiership game he will get caught in possession or give away an easy ball that often leads to an opponent’s effort on goal.

And then there’s the manager’s favourite (and they all have them, Alex Ferguson’s was Brian McClair for a long time, Arsene Wenger’s must have been Pascal Cygan – there was no other explanation for it.). Rafael Benitez has unswerving loyalty to Luis Garcia yet he is so often poor and very occasionally brilliant. No one can deny he pops up with the odd goal in the important match, but to suffer all his poor ball retention and unbalancing of the team damages Liverpool’s momentum. It also appears he’s given much more leeway than other players. Had Robbie Fowler put in that performance Garcia put in against United, he’d have been hauled off after 55 minutes. Garcia gets to play on though because Benitez has a misguided belief in him. And it’s creating a problem. Luis Garcia’s best position would be as a substitute brought on to nick a goal out of nothing.

4) And eventually to Manchester United. 18 million spent on a player to pass the ball sideways five yards or to give the ball away when passing forward? Really? Good value Sir Alex. You really should stop buying players hyped up after performances at World Cups for England (see Rio Ferdinand for 30 million in 2002 when the ‘Everything Must Go’ sale was only a month away at Leeds). Another Media Turd creation. This time purely a BBC one. What is it with the Match of the Day crew’s obsession with Carrick and their embarrassing overhyping of him. The only conclusion is that Alan Hanson must secretly be his agent. Ferguson bit on it badly, no wonder he’s still bitter about missing out on Owen Hargreaves. The Red Devils aren’t good enough to win either of the two big prizes this season.

And the rest….

5) Surely the way loan deals are allowed to work needs to be looked at. The fact that Chelsea, who loaned Portsmouth a right back for the season in Glen Johnson, can exploit the reserve right back so blatantly and cynically like they did with Robben on Saturday is disgusting. It gives the big clubs more power by loaning out players to lesser teams only to disrupt that team when they play them because that player can’t play against his actual club. Just another example of how teams like Chelsea buy their way to the title. Also see Ben Foster and Tim Howard of Man Utd on loan at Watford and Everton respectively. That means at least four times this season United will play teams without their first choice goalkeepers. How much of a help is that? Scott Carson at Charlton of Liverpool is another example. The rules need changing.

6) Have Chelsea done a deal with the devil? If it’s not a great goal from Drogba it’s normally a deflection. Shevchenko’s goal would not have beaten David James was it not for the deflection off of Sol Campbell. But the Reading own goal last week just took the proverbial biscuit.

7) How many own goals has Richard Dunne scored in his career? Loads and still rising….. Whilst it’s easy to want Wigan to go down due to their arse of a chairman (Dave Whelan), goals and entertainment of the likes against Man City can make you change your mind. At least for a while.

9) The wildly overrated Andrew Johnson continuing his ‘diving for penalties’ antics he started at Palace two years ago. If that had been Drogba or Robben or a player of some other birthplace outside the British Isles, he’d have been deplored by the Media Turds all over the land on Sunday morning. As it was his simulation reduced Sheff Utd to ten men and ended the game as a contest and all the ex pro turned horrible Media Turd Alan Shearer could offer was ‘he had every right to go down’. Hmmm

10) After seeing Gareth Barry’s stonking penalty against Fulham, it’s no wonder he’s been ignored by England for so long. He looks far too assured and able at striking the ball from 12 yards.

11) And finally, apart from Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham fans and any xenophobic idiots, how could you not love the football display shown by Arsenal at Reading. The way the game should be played. Technique, pass and move, it seems so easy when the Gunners are on their game playing against team who also likes to pass the ball. They could challenge for the title if they can beat the physical bully boys Bolton and Chelsea this season. If they could somehow not be intimidated when they go to Stamford Bridge in December and give Mourinho and that rancid little Cashley Tweedy a football lesson the whole of English football could rejoice.

Jonno