Premier League
Sunday 23rd September 2012
Anfield
Anfield
Liverpool VS Manchester United
If history is written by the winners, then the pen and the sword go hand in hand. While the events and mismanagement of the club at boardroom level the last few years mean that this isn't quite the heavyweight title fight it used to be, with it being a fixture between England's most successful clubs it will always hold a place as one of the biggest games on the planet.
This game is a means to an end for Brendan Rodgers. Having been handed an immensely difficult opening league schedule, once the final whistle is blown we will have emerged from it. There has already been damage done, but nothing a win wouldn't undo. Victory in today's game would make it so that we've taken exactly the same amount of points from the games we've already played as we did last season. In itself that's no achievement, but with a large contingent of imposing teams behind us it would serve as a platform from which we can push on. Defeat might not be the knock-out blow people may perceive it to be but it would leave us with a hell of a lot of work to do.
Trying to analyse where Manchester United are as a club and a squad is always difficult. They manage to squeeze so much out of seemingly lesser players - O'Shea, Richardson and the likes - as well as maintaining a level of intimidation that most clubs find very hard to deal with, so it's not easy in gauging how good they really are. This summer, despite appearing to have overlooked the areas in which they were weakest last year - I still think they could do with another centre midfielder, as well as a few reinforcements at the back - they made a massive statement with the signing of Robin Van Persie from Arsenal. We saw last year that he can virtually win a game of football alone and with the added threat of a Giggs, Nani or Valencia then there can be no doubt as to how good we're going to have to be defensively in order to get anything from this game.
Ignoring the fanfare surrounding RVP's arrival however, I think their capture of Shinji Kagawa may very well turn out to be the signing of the season (Santi Cazorla and Joe Allen get honourable mentions). Having watched him play for Dortmund on a handful of occasions, I'm not entirely sure where he'll fit into this Man United side and whether they'll be able to fully utilize both he and Rooney on a regular basis but having said that he's still an incredible talent and one that will I imagine prove to be worth every penny.
Having been in the fortunate position of resting most of our key players while still being able to come away with the win on Thursday, not only will a lot of our first team players come back into the side fresh but also those who may be able to make an impact from the bench will be full of confidence also. I'm thinking specifically here of Jonjo Shelvey, although you could apply the concept to Jordan Henderson who acquitted himself excellently in Bern. In the absence of Lucas Leiva, there is a slot in the midfield which is up for grabs between Sahin and Shelvey and while the talent and experience of our Turkish midfielder may be much more high profile, it may be hard for Brendan Rodgers to ignore the form of Jonjo as of late.
We've had problems so far this season at both ends of the pitch, giving away cheap goals while not being able to make it count at the other end. Against United we simply have to be better on both counts, or it will be a lost cause. Given his performances this season so far - especially his debut against Manchester City - a lot of focus will be on Raheem Sterling. Put him up against Rafael on the left hand side and there would only be one winner. That being said I think Fabio Borini could really do some damage today. It's going to be so tight and tense that both his intelligent movement and willingness to press the opposition could lead to something, in very much the same way that Dirk Kuyt - with whom he's been favourably compared - used to enjoy great success.
On the other side of the coin, this would be a perfect game for our defence to come together as one. Obviously a win at all costs is the mantra but a clean sheet is badly needed, especially for Pepe Reina. The mistakes that have punctuated our defensive play at times have to be stamped out completely. United are too good a side to gift anything to. The game will almost certainly be played at an incredibly high tempo and given our proclivity for being caught out on the counter this season it will be especially important that Gerrard and Allen are able to support the back four. One goal either side could very easily do it and as such it's imperative that we are far more solid than we have been at any point this season.
For the first time in a long time, I really don't know what to expect from a game like this. Usually I would anticipate Alex Ferguson coming to Anfield, looking to flood the midfield and stop us from playing while we were forced on by an adrenaline fuelled home crowd. While it will be every bit as full blooded as we're used to neither side will want to give anything away and so it could be a lot more tentative and cagey than recent encounters. Our season will not be defined by today's result. It could be ignited by it though.
If history is written by the winners, then the pen and the sword go hand in hand. While the events and mismanagement of the club at boardroom level the last few years mean that this isn't quite the heavyweight title fight it used to be, with it being a fixture between England's most successful clubs it will always hold a place as one of the biggest games on the planet.
This game is a means to an end for Brendan Rodgers. Having been handed an immensely difficult opening league schedule, once the final whistle is blown we will have emerged from it. There has already been damage done, but nothing a win wouldn't undo. Victory in today's game would make it so that we've taken exactly the same amount of points from the games we've already played as we did last season. In itself that's no achievement, but with a large contingent of imposing teams behind us it would serve as a platform from which we can push on. Defeat might not be the knock-out blow people may perceive it to be but it would leave us with a hell of a lot of work to do.
Trying to analyse where Manchester United are as a club and a squad is always difficult. They manage to squeeze so much out of seemingly lesser players - O'Shea, Richardson and the likes - as well as maintaining a level of intimidation that most clubs find very hard to deal with, so it's not easy in gauging how good they really are. This summer, despite appearing to have overlooked the areas in which they were weakest last year - I still think they could do with another centre midfielder, as well as a few reinforcements at the back - they made a massive statement with the signing of Robin Van Persie from Arsenal. We saw last year that he can virtually win a game of football alone and with the added threat of a Giggs, Nani or Valencia then there can be no doubt as to how good we're going to have to be defensively in order to get anything from this game.
Ignoring the fanfare surrounding RVP's arrival however, I think their capture of Shinji Kagawa may very well turn out to be the signing of the season (Santi Cazorla and Joe Allen get honourable mentions). Having watched him play for Dortmund on a handful of occasions, I'm not entirely sure where he'll fit into this Man United side and whether they'll be able to fully utilize both he and Rooney on a regular basis but having said that he's still an incredible talent and one that will I imagine prove to be worth every penny.
Having been in the fortunate position of resting most of our key players while still being able to come away with the win on Thursday, not only will a lot of our first team players come back into the side fresh but also those who may be able to make an impact from the bench will be full of confidence also. I'm thinking specifically here of Jonjo Shelvey, although you could apply the concept to Jordan Henderson who acquitted himself excellently in Bern. In the absence of Lucas Leiva, there is a slot in the midfield which is up for grabs between Sahin and Shelvey and while the talent and experience of our Turkish midfielder may be much more high profile, it may be hard for Brendan Rodgers to ignore the form of Jonjo as of late.
We've had problems so far this season at both ends of the pitch, giving away cheap goals while not being able to make it count at the other end. Against United we simply have to be better on both counts, or it will be a lost cause. Given his performances this season so far - especially his debut against Manchester City - a lot of focus will be on Raheem Sterling. Put him up against Rafael on the left hand side and there would only be one winner. That being said I think Fabio Borini could really do some damage today. It's going to be so tight and tense that both his intelligent movement and willingness to press the opposition could lead to something, in very much the same way that Dirk Kuyt - with whom he's been favourably compared - used to enjoy great success.
On the other side of the coin, this would be a perfect game for our defence to come together as one. Obviously a win at all costs is the mantra but a clean sheet is badly needed, especially for Pepe Reina. The mistakes that have punctuated our defensive play at times have to be stamped out completely. United are too good a side to gift anything to. The game will almost certainly be played at an incredibly high tempo and given our proclivity for being caught out on the counter this season it will be especially important that Gerrard and Allen are able to support the back four. One goal either side could very easily do it and as such it's imperative that we are far more solid than we have been at any point this season.
For the first time in a long time, I really don't know what to expect from a game like this. Usually I would anticipate Alex Ferguson coming to Anfield, looking to flood the midfield and stop us from playing while we were forced on by an adrenaline fuelled home crowd. While it will be every bit as full blooded as we're used to neither side will want to give anything away and so it could be a lot more tentative and cagey than recent encounters. Our season will not be defined by today's result. It could be ignited by it though.
No comments:
Post a Comment