by JBG » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:52 pm
Hard game to call.
At the moment, I think we have actually surpassed Man UTD in overall quality. There is no contest up front, in RVN and Rooney UTD have by FAR the better players.
On the flipside of the coin our defence, as a unit, greatly exceeds the quality of UTD.
They may or may not be better out wide, they are probably better given that they play a lot down the wings, although as individuals I don't think the platoon of wingers UTD have at their disposal are quite as good as many make out. Ronaldo can be thrilling at times, but he's mostly useless who impresses people who know nothing about football with stepovers and tricks that have no effect on the play. I don't call him completely useless because for all his faults, about once a game he can get in behind the full back and cause a bit of damage with a moment of magic. His talent should mean that he gets in 5 or 6 times a match, but the boy is a bit brainless and has a primadonna crowd pleasing streak in him that currently holds him back from being a quality player (I cannot believe Ferguson indulges him, it really shows how soft Fergie is getting, but that is another matter).
In midfield we are far superior, Alonso should run the game and I don't think UTD will handle Gerrard's bursts from midfield.
On paper I think Liverpool are more than capable of winning - and winning well - and for those Man UTD fans reading this, get used to it, thats a fact, not the subjective opinion of a Liverpool fan.
However, UTD have players capable of doing serious damage in a blink of an eye, and while we could dominate the match, Rooney (he is playing, isn't he?) could peel off Carragher's shoulder and win the match with one of those tunderous shots of his. We are 12 league games into an amazing run, UTD are coming off the back of a bad defeat, so for the purposes of this game, its difficult to call.
However, the fact is, over the past 10-15 games we have been consistently better than UTD, both in England and Europe. We concede less goals and close teams down an awful lot better. There have been games this season where teams playing Liverpool never look like scoring, but against UTD, many teams look like they can breakthrough.
Fingers crossed that Liverpool can make a statement as to how the balance of power is shifting away from UTD and Arsenal to Chelsea and Liverpool. They are more than capable of doing it, and in the best of three games, I think Liverpool would shade it, but on a one off, and at Old Trafford, UTD are still capable of pulling off a result.
UTD may try to man mark Alonso, and Sissoko will probably follow Rooney around all game. Rooney comes deep a lot to receive the ball (he's actually more of an attacking midfielder than a centre forward) and Sissoko will stick to him. How Rooney will react to a few of Sissoko's akward and heavy tackles will be very, very interesting.
Jolly Bob Grumbine.