Manchester United 3 – 2 Liverpool Review | Berbatov – A genius at work

A much awaited fixture of the English premier league between the great rivals with huge history and passion. Not a derby game but was described as mother of all derbies. Everyone expected a lot from this match. In the end its Manchester United’s new hero Berbatov sealed the deal for them with sublime Hat-Trick. But United defense which was sloppy for 10mins in the second half, allowed Liverpool to comeback into the game with a penalty and free kick.

Here is the starting lineup of both the teams for this match. united Opted for 4-4-2 with rooney and Berbatov upfront, as expected. Liverpool played 4-4-1-1 with Torres upfront with some surprises in the midfield. This the first time SAF deploying 4-4-2 in a big game after a long time. But given Berbatov’s form and Rooney’s workrate … it seems he went for the right option.

Manchester United vs Liverpool Starting lineups

We expected either Cole or Gerrard to play behind torres but coach RH gave Meireles that role. And Maxi started on the right side. Poulsen started along with Gerrard in the midfield. For united Fletcher and Scholes in the midfield and O’shea returned to the defense.

First Half

United Started very well with their midfield getting the ball to the wingers very early. This kept Liverpool in their own half for most of the time and they defended with numbers. In the midfield Meireles marked Scholes, means Torres is the only man upfront for Liverpool. Liverpool defended really well in the first half till 40th mim.

Liverpool defended well with 2 lines of defense

As you can see here, Liverpool formed 2 lines of defense. In the above pic, Nani is having the ball and you can see five liverpool players are around him. but as you can see they left one of the united players unmarked always. Poulsen also tracked Nani through out the game because Konchesky is not upto the mark.

First Goal

As we all know, United attacked through their wide players especially Nani. Their midfield attempted long passes to the wide players and then they got in the crosses which liverpool found difficult to handle with. Here is the series of actions for first goal:

United's first goal

Nani received a long ball from the midfield and he drove forward and sent a cross into the box. did you observe the 4 Liverpool players behind united’s front 3 men in the picture? So its initially 3v3 up front and as you can see Berbatov didn’t started his run and rooney is sprinting forward this allows United’s front 3 to exchange the passes and if required send the ball to the midfield which is in space. When Giggs took the corner from the left side, it really surprising that Torres has marked Berbatov and he was caught on the wrong end. Berbatov looked like running opposite side but when the cross came in, Torres is just holding him and gave a free header.

Torres and Midfield

In the whole first half Torres managed just 3 passes. So what Liverpool midfield is doing ? Here is a stuation from the game when Liverpool is in attacking position from the first half.

Liverpool's midfield was poor and sent the ball either back or sideways

Liverpool player  on the ball is Poulsen, he had options to send the ball forward or to Cole on the left who is not in this picture. He is in ample of space but he sends it back to a player who is near to Rooney and the pass goes to Maxi and comes back to Poulsen and finally ends up with a pass to goal keeper. Did you observed Torres there between the central defenders? what was he doing there with his hands on hips… watching liverpool midfield’s artistic work? They never played ball to him, the only time ball went to Torres is when they attempted long balls which happend just 2 times in first 45mins.

Here is another moment from the first half where they kept torres.

Liverpool's midfield was poor and sent the ball either back or sideways

Look at number of options the Liverpool player had. But he opted to pass the ball to Cole on the left wing which finally comes back to Poulsen.  This means in the first 45mins they never tried to attack the united’s midfield. Instead they passed the ball either sideways or backwards.

Second Half

In the scond half, Gerrard started pushing forward and Liverpool added some pace to the game. Still they did the the same thing they did in the first half. But United didn’t changed their style of they. They got the ball to the wide players and depended on the crosses.

United's Second goal - Another long ball another cross

Second goal

This is a brilliant moment of the game, from Berbatov to give united a 2-0 lead. He collected the ball from Nani on his knee and tried a bicycle kick which ended with hitting the inside of the top bar and landing inside. Again its a cross from Nani that lead to the goal. you can see in the picture, still nani is tracked by 2 liverpool players and Giggs who is on the left wing is free and unmarked. Even if the the cross went over the united forwards, giggs can make most of it.

United defense and Liverpool goals

At this moment it looked like united are all set to win without any hurdles or twists. But for 10mins, united defense was fragile and Liverpool made most of it with a penalty and freekick. Irrespective of his success in the past, Torres finds it difficult with Vidic this time and he has chosen to attack Evans in the second half. When Torres for the ball be ran into the 6yard box and Evans fouled him which lead to a penalty and Gerrard converted it.

Liverpool Substitutions :

Roy Hodgson made a substitution on 66th min by Replacing Maxi with Ngog. This changed the liverpool’s formation to 4-4-2 with Ngog playing just behind Torres as second striker. Cole and Meireles moving to wings with Gerrard and Poulsen controlling the Midfield.

Formations after Liverpool Substitution - both teams 4-4-2

This change brought life to Liverpool with Gerrard moving forward freely but they lost the midfield advantage they have in the first-half. Gerrard moving forward means, they left one of the United player free in the midfield and it is Scholes. And Scholes started controlling the midfield and sent more long balls to forwards and Nani.

O’shea Yellow card and second goal

O'shea foul on Torres and yellow card

Many may argue that O’shea should get Red card for this foul but Referee got it correct. As you can see in the picture, When ball was played forward, Torres, Van der sar and Defender are moving towards  it. Then O’shea clipped Torres leg and fouled. It is very clear that other United players are in good position to get the ball. So the referee gave him Yellow card and awarded Liverpool a free kick. When gerrard took the free kick, Fletcher moved slightly away from the wall and gerrard is cleaver enough to send the ball through that gap. Now the score 2-2.

United Substitution:

with the score settling at 2-2 SAF had brough in Macheda for giggs and with this change United now had 3 forwards upfront with Berbatov in the middle. As i wrote earlier Paul Scholes who was free in the midfield sent a long cross to O’shea on the right, who sends a cross to Liverpool penalty box and again Berbatov rose and heads home a winner, and his hat-trick.

Now SAF Replaces Berbatov the new hero who went into the bench with standing applaude from the United fans, wtih Anderson and Nani with Gibson. This changes United shape to 4-5-1 and closed the shop.

Conclusion

In the end it was 3 crosses, 3 goals for United. But they found a new hero in Berbatov, who was described by SAF as a Genius before the match and he proved that he is a genius at work. He may have just 22passes to his name in the whole game but every time he got the ball, it looked like he is about to do something. Now we all know, what tempted SAF to send 30mi on a player. United deserved their victory and for Liverpool the score line may be flattering but they need to work on a lot of things and its a surprise they created little and scored on the united’s defense errors.

Fulham 2 –2 Manchester United | pay penalty for that penalty miss

Manchester United made 2 changes to their lineup from the match against newcastle. Rooney who is suffering from some stomach bug replaced by Hernandez who got his first premier league start. Park replaces nani on the left wing. United opted the 4-4-2 formation. While Fulham played 4-2-3-1.

United started the game very with Fletcher and Berbatov combining and Scholes doing the same as what he did in the newcastle match. Park played inside to compensate the fulham’s 5 men midfield. Berbatov dropped deep off the Hernandez and has been key in the build up play. Fletcher made more forward runs in the first half. United got the break through when the free kick from the left found berbatov who laid the ball to Scholes who scroed his trademark goal and his 150th goal. It looked like United didn’t pressed enough after this goal. Vidic didn’t tracked Zamora properly. Fulham leveled the score before half time.

In the second hald, united looked a different team. Scholes and Berbatov disappeared means, they are not creating any changes to score. Also it was observed that Fulham’s Etunu has made many forward runs at the goals causing problems in the united midfield. Then SAF made changes by replacing Hernandez with Owen, Park for Nani and Giggs for valencia. It looked like united are getting back on track but still didn’t created any real opportunities. Then united got a lucey own goal gift from Fulham in 84th Min. And soon they were awarded a penalty which Nani couldn’t able to net. This is costly miss as Fulham for the moral boost from that penalty miss and they started moving forward more. Again in the last minutes of the second half, Fulham scored from a corner through Hergland who compensated his earlier own goal with this header and the score is now 2-2.

United got draw at Fulham on the away game with 2-2 scoreline when they have change to make it 3-1 before that penalty miss by Nani . But may be better than the last years 3-0 defeat.

Notes from the match review:

1. Park played inside …not as a winger since Fulham played 4-2-3-1.
2. We know the issue of the left wing and both Valencia and Nani are not good.
3. When you attack on the right through Evra’s runs… you should be able to switch the ball to other flank. Which requires O’shea to be in an advanced position…..this didn’t happend
4. for valencia on the right, there is no one to attempt a diagnol cross when there is space to work on the left wing as park is playing inside
5. Check SAF’s post match comments….. he said – united are not yet used to Chicharito’s pace. Yes, we need to play more through ball to him from the midfield. But in this game, its mostly short passes.
6. When SAF said, this could be Berba’s season, what i sensed is that he is going to use Berba in a different way. And he is doing it. In the first half he was really good and provided the link from midfield. And SAF kept him in the second half, just for that purpose….when his game disappeared in the second half. Of course his finishing has to improve. and the expectations from him is to provide the link between midfield and the target striker.