Fergie set his stall out with a simple 4-4-2 with Berbatov and an apparently fit enough Wayne Rooney leading the line. Giggs and Valencia were on either wing with Carrick and Scholes holding the middle. O’Shea continued at right back, with Evra on the left and the usual pairing of Vidic and Ferdinand making up a typical back four in front of Edwin van der Sar. It looked like we were there to attack.

But we didn’t. In fact, the lads didn’t do much of anything. The first half didn’t produce much either way and the ref was questionable to say the least in his decision making but as the teams left the field at half time, the atmosphere was hotting up and you expected something to happen after such a dull display.

Liverpool started the second half on the front foot and quickly the match began to play out just as the last one had ended. Nothing was changing. In seems unfair to single anyone out for criticism because everyone played so badly.

Carrick and Scholes were completely over run in the middle of the park and their passing was woeful. I don’t remember Carrick making a successful forward pass in the entire game and Scholes struggled to keep up with the pace at times.

John O’Shea was guilty of who knows how many dodgy passes, Vidic was sent off for the third time in as many games against the same opposition and Ferdinand was once again involved in poor defending which cost the team dear.

Up front, Rooney and Berbatov received little service and were both relatively quiet. Rooney was perhaps still feeling the effects of his recent injury but stayed on the pitch the full ninety minutes. I don’t know whether it’s his reputation going before him, but I was particularly disappointed with Berbatov. The Liverpool attackers were hardly ever standstill. In comparison, Berbatov seemed to be barely moving.

Liverpool took the lead when Yossi Benayoun sliced open the defence which was holding a very high line leaving Torres only Rio for company. As we saw in the City derby with Craig Bellamy, Rio just doesn’t have that turn of speed to keep up. After skipping away from Rio, Torres smashed the ball past helpless van der Sar.

Even at 1-0 there was little change in play and more concerning, no apparent changes from the bench either. Michael Owen was on the bench and was one man with a particular interest in doing well at his old stomping ground yet Fergie waited until the 74th minute before bringing him on for the anonymous Dimitar Berbatov.

The teams only other change also came with Owen as Nani took the field to replace Paul Scholes. Nani took over on the wing pushing Giggs inside, and created more opportunities in his fifteen minutes than Giggs had managed all game. Had the winger been given more time I wonder whether me may of taken one of those.

Owen almost had a chance but as he was through on goal, Jamie Carragher hauled him to the ground and escaped with a booking. Vidic got a red for something similar in a previous encounter but let’s not go into that.

Last man and already booked Vidic didn’t need much contact to bring down Dirk Kuyt which earned the Serbian his third red card in as many games against Liverpool and Mascherano, never one to beat, also got himself sent off deep into injury time for his second bookable offence as he arrived about 18 seconds late in a challenge on van der Sar.

With a central defender missing and the team desperate to score, it didn’t take long to get caught on the counter attack and when Torres’ replacement Ngog found himself one on one with the keeper, he clinically finished to round off a miserable day all round.

Manchester United could have been the first team in history to win five trophies in one season as well as being the first team to successfully defend the crown of European Champions. Six weeks ago, United were on course for an unprecedented quintuple. And now, before the FA Cup has even been decided, our season is over and we’ve finished with three trophies. (I’m ignoring the Charity Shield)

Today, we have two choices. We can take United’s domestic and World success and congratulate the team on a job well done or we can look at the team’s recent performances and rightly ask questions about the future of this so called “young team”.

If you’re happy with the former, you should probably stop reading now. We won the league, rock on!

In Wednesday’s Champions League semi final, the average age of United’s starting eleven was 28. One year older than that of our opponents Barcelona and yet Ferguson still claimed the team was young and would learn. Whilst all United players will certainly learn from Wednesday’s loss, it is naïve to suggest youth played any part in the defeat.

Anderson was United’s youngest player on the park at 21, but when he was replaced a half time, the role of most youthful player on the park fell to Wayne Rooney who, at the age of 23 and with over 200 United appearances to his name, can hardly be described as inexperienced.

As Alex Ferguson rightly pointed out, “we were beaten by a better team” on Wednesday night but rather than simply accept that; surely we have to ask why?

Statistics will paint a false image of our season. Finishing the Premier League as Champions with 90 points looks impressive and the fact we equalled the country’s all time top flight victories should make it more so. But it doesn’t.

Only three times in our history have United surpassed the 90 points mark in the Premier League with our highest ever total being 92, achieved in the 93/94 season.

Still, the stats are not a true reflection and it’s hard to be happy with our haul this season – especially when we had so much in our grasp only six weeks ago.

Liverpool pushed United close in this season’s Premier League race and whilst it’s hard to imagine the Dippers as real title challengers; this season, it almost became a reality.

Chelsea had to cope with a managerial change mid season and Arsenal surprisingly lost five games in their opening dozen leaving Liverpool with a real opportunity to stake a claim on the title. Fantasy is a million miles from reality though and Liverpool never really had enough to steal top spot from United and finished second.

Next season, I’d bet on both Arsenal and Chelsea to finish above the Dippers and I reckon you’d get good odds on that happening. It also means the race for first will be more fiercely contested. Will United be up for the challenge? No-one has ever won four Premier League trophies back to back. Bring it on.

Ignoring our (undeserved) impressive statistics, United never really looked themselves ever since the home victory against Inter Milan. United cruised to a 2 – 0 victory that evening but the manor of the performance seemed lazy and ever since then, winning looked more like a chore than a formality.

By this point, getting to the line was all that mattered in the league and rightly so. United managed to cruise over it with a game to spare but in the Champions League they had no such luck.

It was a scared or tired team that turned up to play Barcelona in the final. Given the team had been given a decent rest before the game; I can only conclude it was the former.

United started well, playing nine minutes of great football, but Barcelona scored from their first attack and from then it was men versus boys. Barcelona on the ascendency and United on the slide. We lost the game through two sloppy goals but the old adage comes true; you can’t complain about losing if you don’t score a goal.

After the game, a clearly upset Ferguson said “we’ll be better next year” but if you look at the current squad, to push further forward will require some tough decisions.

Whilst hard work is an attribute widely appreciated amongst the Red Devil faithful, without the talent to back it up, surely it’s only a matter of time before the gig is up?

John O’Shea was handed the job at right back after an apparently impressive season covering the same position whilst one can only assume Ji-Sung Park was given a start for his tireless energy. Both of these players have been incredible servants to the club but are they really of Manchester United quality? Yes they do a job, but do they have quality? I think it’s clear they don’t. Not at the level we need anyway.

Strong and steady will win the Premiership race nine times out of ten. Strong, steady and sexy will win the lot. Next season, it’s time to bring back the sexy…

Manchester United have two games in hand however and anything but a defeat tonight against Portsmouth will see the reigning champions regain top spot and tighten their grip on a third successive Premier League title.

Benitez has been adamant over recent weeks that Liverpool’s current form would be good enough to overhaul United’s advantage in the league. It was an easy band wagon to jump on with Liverpool seemingly finding their feet and United hitting the self destruct button.

The return of Rio Ferdinand looks to have steadied the ship and if United return to their defensive best, it’s going to almost impossible for anyone to overhaul them.

“United are in the driving seat and we will see what happens. ” Benitez said.

Ever the optimist, he added “If they win it will be more difficult but they have to win and they also have to play against Arsenal so we will see. It’s football, you never know.”

Elsewhere, Liverpool have been drawn with Chelsea (again) whilst Barcelona take on Bayern Munich.

The first leg will be played at Old Trafford on Tuesday 7th April with the second leg taking place the following week on Wednesday 15th.

United have met Porto six times in their history, most recently being knocked out of the Champions Leagues in the 2003/04 season when one Jose Mourinho was at the helm. United have won just two of the previous encounters, losing twice and drawing twice.

So it comes as some consolation when for the second time this season, Arsene Wenger backs United for the title and has a little dig at Rafael Benitez in the process. Yeah you won, but it was nothing to do with YOUR football.

Arsene Wenger, whilst congratulating Liverpool on their achievement, pointed out that United were dominant in the game (a fact backed up by pretty much every stat) and were inevitably undone by uncharacteristic mistakes at the back. He said:

“There are two things I’d like to say. Firstly, congratulations to Liverpool for winning with an emphatic score, but I think… it is a very flattering score. For big spells in the game, Manchester United dominated but they made mistakes on the day that usually they don’t do.”

Whilst Ferguson has praised the attitude and depth of his squad, Wenger suggested some of United’s players looked “mentally tired” but still went on to tip United for the title.

“It [the defeat] opens up the race for the title, even though I still believe Manchester United are in a strong position with the game in hand.”

Whilst most seem to have accepted that Vidic’s ‘rugby tackle’ was a foul, I ask you, did you look closely at the footage? If you did, you’ll see that the coming together was nothing more than six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Don’t believe me? Have a closer look. This is the moment the two collide. Notice Vidic has his arm outstretched whilst Gerrard has clamped his arm around Vidic’s. If Vidic is guilty of anything, it’s an outstretched arm. But a red card for an outstretched arm?

Both have a clear hold on the others shirts as you can see from the following three images images. Gerrard has a hold on Vidic as the Serbian comes crashing to the ground.

Need a hand down Vida?

Here is the moment Gerrard released his grasp on Vidic. After helping him to the ground, the cheating bastard releases Vidic’s shirt and throws his arms in the air fooling the referee and his assistants into sending the Serbian off for the second time this season against Liverpool.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Here’s hoping we get them in the Champions League.

While United were busy adding another trophy to their ever burgeoning trophy cabinet their Premier League title ambitions were helped by results elsewhere over the weekend.

Liverpool slipped to just their second defeat of the season but are now seven points behind United having played a game more. Xavi Alonso put the ball in his own net for the opener. Tuncay then converted to seal Middlesbrough’s first league win since November. Middlesbrough 2-0 Liverpool.

Chelsea were made to work hard for their win over Wigan at Stamford Bridge. Captain John Terry put Guus Hiddink’s side ahead with a spectacular scissor kick only for Oliver Kapo to slide in an equaliser. The game looked to be heading for a draw until Frank Lampard rose highest to head home deep in injury time. Chelsea 2-1 Wigan.

Arsenal were left frustrated again as they were held to a fourth consecutive goalless draw, this time against Fulham. Robin Van Persie had the best chance for the Gunners but Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer was equal to it. They are now six points behind fourth placed Aston Villa in the race for that final Champions League place. Arsenal 0-0 Fulham.

Villa could have opened up an eight point gap on the Gunners and looked set to do so when Petrov and Carew put them 2-0 up against Stoke with just 14 minutes to go. But an 88th minute Ryan Shawcross header gave the Potters hope before Glenn Whelan stunned Villa Park with a 90th minute equaliser. Aston Villa 2-2 Stoke.

Everton kept up with Villa and Arsenal in the race for fourth with a win over rock bottom West Brom. Tim Cahill was left unmarked at a free kick to head the Toffees in front in the first half. Louis Saha then doubled the lead with a sublime turn and finish on the edge of the area. Everton 2-0 West Brom.

Bolton moved seven points clear of the relegation zone with a narrow win over fellow strugglers Newcastle. Substitute Ricardo Gardner grabbed the goal a minute in the second half but the Trotters had to survive late spell of Newcastle pressure before they could claim the points. Bolton 1-0 Newcastle.

Blackburn moved out of the relegation zone with a win over Hull, who appear to be in freefall. Two goals in as many minutes from Stephen Warnock and Keith Andrews put Rovers in control. Dean Marney and Morten Gamst Pedersen then saw red before Ian Ashbee’s half volley set up a tense finish. Blackburn held on though for a vital win. Hull 1-2 Blackburn.

West Ham moved up to seventh with a win over Man City whose poor form away from Eastlands continued. The game looked to be heading for a draw before youngster Jack Collison headed home with 19 minutes to go to give the Hammers all three points. West Ham 1-0 Man City

You could argue that Liverpool’s title challenge was over before it had even started. They have rarely played like future champions and their results would certainly back that up.

Whilst Manchester United have strung together an eleven match winning run this season, Liverpool’s best run is a measly five wins on the trot. In all competitions they have managed to maintain a win rate of just 56 percent. You’re never going to win the Premiership with numbers like that!

Let’s pretend for a minute that Liverpool really did have a chance of winning the Premier League this season. If they did, they probably certainly don’t anymore, so when did it all go wrong?

January 9th 2009

On January 9th, Rafael Benitez held a press conference where the Spaniard unleashed an assault on Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

In his tirade, Benitez claimed Ferguson “is the only manager in the league that cannot be punished” and sarcastically suggested that in future, “Mr Ferguson organise the fixtures in his office and send it to everyone.”

At the time, Liverpool were top of the Premier League, on a three match winning run and looking to extend their lead at the top against Stoke City. Manchester United were chasing behind and scheduled to play Chelsea in a couple of days.

I’m guessing Rafa was trying to unsettle the United squad but boy did it backfire. Liverpool drew nil nil with Stoke and United beat an under par Chelsea 3 – 0. That game signaled the start of that eleven match unbeaten run I mentioned earlier.

And what happened to Liverpool? They began their slide down the table. First losing pole position to the Champions and today dropping to third after losing to Middlesbrough. Liverpool have played ten matches since Benitez’s rant and won just three times. They lost twice and drew five.

After today’s defeat, Liverpool remain seven points behind league leaders Manchester United who have a game in hand. Even if they were to win at Old Trafford (I can’t see it), winning the league would still take a monumental effort from the Liverpool players and a catastrophic collapse from United.

Even Benitez can see it that isn’t going to happen. Asked about Liverpool’s chances he said: “Before the game it was very difficult, now it is more difficult”. I suppose you can’t argue with his logic.