Blog by dedlfc (David Douglas)
Liverpool 2: Sturridge (pen) 20', Firmino 74'
Manchester United 0:
Manchester United 0:
Pregame Thoughts: As a Liverpool or Man
Utd fan it doesn’t get bigger than this - Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield for a
European Night. We named a very strong attacking line-up: Sturridge up top,
with Lallana, Firmino, and Coutinho all in support in the attacking midfield
band. That's a lot of pressing and a lot of potential firepower tonight. It
would be nice to see Coutinho show up against United like he customarily does
against City, and I'd love to see Sturridge get back into the swing of things and
score some big, big goals tonight.
A rousing edition of "You'll Never Walk
Alone" completely drowning out the Europa League anthem (which no one
recognizes anyway, even if we probably should at this point) it also drowns out
the standard Man Utd away fans chants of Man-ches-ter. As stated by our
manager Jurgen Klopp “the Mother of all football games” is now ready to start
!!!
Straight from the kick off Memphis Depay gets free
and whips in a dangerous cross which Moreno mis-reads and finds Rashford
free in the box – (which he I am sure) suspected that Moreno would clear within literally the first 15 seconds. Nothing comes of it, but that was a
shocking start for us.
Massive warnings about the card happy referee Carlos
Carballo before the game, our captain Henderson chooses to ignore all the
warnings and comes in with a high boot and goes into the book in the second
minute. In Europe that is usually a yellow card in the Prem that is just a
final warning before the night becomes seriously marred. Could be a long night
at this rate for the captain...
****PENALTY**** Firmino dinks a lovely little through ball into
Clyne and Depay takes him down. Clear penalty.
****GOAL!**** 1-0 Sturridge steps up and calmly slots it home to the
keeper’s right, despite De Gea guessing correctly and getting a fingertip to
it.
Our tails were now up after the goal, and we
immediately win the first corner of the night.
De Gea comes up big (shocker) a few minutes later, Sturridge’s
cross-cum-shot from the right of the penalty box finds the Brazilian Coutinho on
the far post but he doesn’t get enough purchase on the effort with the outside
of his right foot and it is scrambled off the line by the Spaniard.as he makes a great effort to deny Coutinho from close
range.
The
only real alarm at the our end came when Sakho missed his clearance and
attempted a lunge to rectify his mistake. If Mata had gone down, the referee
would have had a real decision to make. Thankfully nothing came of this
incident.
And then
he makes another save shortly thereafter, this time with Sturridge getting
through on goal after a defensive mistake, and yet again de Gea saves the
left-footed effort, which, quite frankly, you expect Sturridge to bury even on
a bad day.
As halftime approaches, De Gea makes yet another
point blank save.
Firmino fizzes one into the near post, Lallana gets a touch but the keeper’s
reflexes are excellent, as always.To be fair, Lallana's shot was straight at him, but
on another day and against another keeper we could easily be up 3-0 right now.
So business as usual around these parts whenever we face De Gea !!!
Half-time: Zero stoppage time, which is always weird. The
half was simply one of the best by Liverpool this season, and we'll likely
regret not being further in front. Liverpool had nearly 70% of the possession
and 5 shots on target to United's big, fat zero. De Gea, as per usual, is
having a worldie against us. Coutinho is looking lively, doing magician things
but still don’t understand why he didn’t put that chance away with his left
foot rather than taking it with the outside of his right foot. Sturridge looked
sharp in and around the box. And we looked the better team, through and
through. Our one worrying spot in my opinion is the fact that we didn’t finish
this tie at halftime!!! The ref has now given 4 yellow cards so far; Henderson
and Lovren are on yellows for Liverpool, and Depay and Rashford are in the book
for United.
Michael Carrick is brought on for Rashford to start
the second half, which, regrettably, seems like a good call. He will try
and wrestle the midfield control from Henderson & Can.
Coutinho becomes the fifth name in the book, as
he's shown a yellow for simulation just outside the box. Coutinho's sly smile
shows that it was probably a good call.
Mignolet gets in on the action, making a
comfortable first save of the night from a speculative shot from
Schneiderlin. For
the first time this season incredibly, Liverpool have saved a United shot on
target.
It wasn't a great one, but still, it's a start.
It wasn't a great one, but still, it's a start.
Manchester United look like a different and much
more dangerous team in the second half. Carrick in fact has not turned up
in midfield as expected but is playing as the sweeper of a back three which is
a waste but good news for us.
Coutinho catches a wonderful effort on the half volley, but
De Gea gets across to tip over the bar. Superb save again by De Gea. What is it
about playing us that brings out these performances from this keeper – whatever
it is we need to get our keeper to learn from him !!!
Our manager needs to make an adjustment, because I don't
know how much longer we can hold with this pressure from United and on cue Wee
Joe Allen is coming on for Daniel Sturridge. This midfield certainly could use
some parental supervision.
Clyne unleashes a wicked swerving shot from outside
the box. De Gea saves it, of course, but that is to be expected !!!
Henderson finally beats De Gea...but narrowly
misses the top corner with his side-footed effort. He should also have done
better with that chance. However, we are looking much better with Allen in with
Firmino playing as the false number nine again. In Klopp we trust!
****GOAL!!**** 2-0 Liverpool finally beat De
Gea again and are now in dreamland. Henderson’s pull back isn’t cleared
properly by make-shift sweeper Carrick, Lallana tees up for Firmino and a
lovely finish from the Brazilian. It would be a great night if the score remains the same at the end of
the game.
Red smoke bomb goes off BOOM
in the main stand as a celebration to the second goal from the LFC fans.
Last throw of the dice by United with just over 10 minutes left with Herrera and Schweinsteiger on, Schneiderlin and Mata off
Fellaini, already on a yellow, tugs back Lallana - but the referee doesn’t show a second yellow. He has been very fortunate in this game.
Origi on for Firmino. Standing ovation from the Kop
faithful - Great night for Bobby again – 3rd goal in 3 appearances.
Fellaini then has United’s closest effort of the
night with a headed opportunity with about 3 or 4 mins left that goes just
wide.
A foul on Henderson has the Kop chanting off
but the referee again doesn’t show Fellaini that second yellow. Just don’t
understand why Fellaini is still on the pitch with his fouls throughout the
game and the referee continuing to be lenient with him - as his aerial presence
has been the only real threat to us.
2 minutes injury time went by without any
further threat to our goal.
Full Time: Despite the best efforts of David de Gea, Liverpool
will go to Old Trafford with the upper hand. Two goals to the good, and an all
important clean sheet. Can't really ask for much more than that.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Mignolet; Clyne, Lovren, Sakho,
Moreno; Henderson, Can; Coutinho, Firmino (Origi 84), Lallana; Sturridge (Allen
64)
Subs not used: Ward, Toure, Benteke, Smith, Ojo
Goal: Strurridge (pen 20), Firmino 74
Booked: Henderson, Lovren, Coutinho
Manchester United (4-4-1-1): De Gea; Varela,
Smalling, Blind, Rojo; Rashford (Carrick 45), Fellaini, Schneiderlin
(Schweinsteiger 79), Depay; Mata (Herrera 79); Martial
Subs: Romero, Darmian, Weir, Riley
Booked: Depay, Rashford, Fellaini
Attendane 43,228
Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Madrid)
Man of the match – Nathaniel Clyne – won the vital
penalty for us with excellent movement and produced a rasping drive which was
well saved towards the Kop end in the second half, Clyne came to play and was
solid throughout and made several crucial challenges whilst defending – he delivered
both attacking and defending in style.
Special mentions
Firmino – Took his goal with typical nonchalance of
a player high on confidence, set up Lallana for a chance first half and carried threat
and work rate throughout the game – long may this form continue as he seems to be
another player that scores big game goals.
Lallana - Twists and turns produced some good balls into
the box and he kept his poise well to tee up Firmino for the second. He's in a
very good place at the moment playing very well in two of the last three games.
Allen - Did very well when introduced for
Sturridge, helping us reassert midfield control on the game.
Summary
The final score 2-0 is a very good result and
an excellent team performance throughout – following up from the brilliant home
League win vs Man City and the smash and grab win by 10 men at Crystal Palace –
the momentum is currently with us so we need to now go to Old Trafford next
week Thursday get an away goal and the job is then complete.
Great stuff by our players – well done to all
of them.
After match reactions
from the managers
Man United manager Van Gaal said the following
after the game “Liverpool created an atmosphere that was fantastic and we could
not cope with their pressure. It was a cheap penalty. 2-0 is a difficult result
for us but we too need to create an atmosphere like Liverpool did. Liverpool
deserved the goals but how they created them was cheap.”
Our
manager Klopp said “Atmosphere tonight, not that I'll forget it, was absolutely
unbelievable. It was really great and I want to say thank you to everyone who
was involved in this atmosphere.
“It
was easy to enjoy from the first till the last second. This was Liverpool how I
knew it before I came here so that was really, really great and thank you for
this.”
Nice way to finish
the blog lets now complete the job next week!!!
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