Wenger: 4—1 flattered Liverpool
17 March 09 by Roy Banks
It’s hard to move on from the 4—1 defeat at the hands of Liverpool on Saturday. If it’s not a Liverpool fan reminding me it’s a Chelsea fan, or an Arsenal fan, or even an Accrington Stanley fan. Let’s face it, everyone has been waiting for this to happen and now that it has, they’re not going to let us forget it.
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.”
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Why not man up and take the defeat like men? I’m surprised by the rationalization by Mancs. Why not say “you were crap, LFC are probably better than given credit for, and it was a deserved win” and get on with it?
You can’t beat Madrid, Barca, Inter, etc repeatedly by fluke. They’re not a two-man team ether (I don’t think Gerrard or Torres played in their victory over you lot at Anfield).
@William: I fully accept we deserved to lose the game. I personally feel we beat ourselves but however it happened, it happened.
I can’t say Liverpool are better than given credit for because they are not. United played their worst game for as long as I can remember and defensively were appalling. Despite that, Liverpool couldn’t create anything much and relied on goals being handed to them. If we defended like normal, Liverpool’s counter attacking approach wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Like Wenger says, it was flattering scoreline. Gerrard played some part in the Anfield tie but not Torres.
Scored an own goal that time, help thy neighbour and all that……
What a backhanded compliment. I suggest you imitate the example of Ryan Giggs. How you can say we played crap is beyond beleif. And what does it say, that we put four past you while playing crap? Were we crap against Madrid? Ever since beating Juve in 2005, our wins over good teams have ALWAYS been about the other team. About us “parking the bus” (parking the bus and scoring 2 in the nou camp, and 4 against madrid and 6 against you lot over two games). It’s never Rafa’s a good tactician albeit rather obsessive sometimes (which he is).
You couldn’t “defend like normal” because you haven’t met anyone as terrifying as the Gerrard-Torres (a crocked Torres I might add) this season. Period. Speaking of which where was Rooney? Who are you going to blame for that one. I bet you you think Hyypia is crap, and that he played crap, right?
What your’e saying smacks of excusitis. We hit the post against Stoke, and played Spurs off the park. But shit happens, you gotta win those games and full credit to Stoke for taking four points off of us this season.
Look, Manchester United are odds on favorites to win the league, and the Champions League this season. I’m not denying that and I’m not here for a dickwaving contest, but your refusal to give ANY credit whatsoever to Liverpool when they impress is intellectually dishonest.
I was surprised by Wenger’s comments. In my mind there is no doubt that Liverpool were the better team, even if I agree with Arsene that the scoreline was a bit flattering. The game was in the balance up until Vidic’s red card, but even before that I felt that Liverpool controlled the game and I didn’t really expect United to be able to turn it around.
It’s true that United made some bad defensive mistakes, but that doesn’t mean we gifted Liverpool the goals on a plate. Very few, if any, other players in the PL would have been able to take advantage of Vidic’s mistake the way Torres did.
@William: I never once said Liverpool played crap. What I said was Man Utd played crap, and we gifted goals to Liverpool.
I actually thought Hyypia played very well. There was a lack of creativity from United so that that helped a lot. Midfield was poor, passing was poor, service was poor. Rooney couldn’t get in the game. He was pretty crap too.
We had a crap game. We beat ourselves. I’m not going to sing Liverpool’s prasises and if you seriously think you produced some sort of master class, I’m afraid you are deluded.
@Hakan: Anyone with pace could have done what Torres did. Maybe not finished it so sexily, but any top flight striker should be able to score under those circumstances. Vidic handed it to him then fell over.
Sorry, Roy, I disagree. Torres has that rare ability to make it look very easy. He’s in a different class from the “anyone with pace” bunch, and I think he showed it in this situation.
@Hakan: I agree Torres is way better than most of the other Premier League strikers, and perhaps it was simply the fact Vidic knew how deadly he was that forced the indecision in the first place.
But that goal was one of the easiest he’ll get this season, surely you agree on that? I know he finished it well, but once you’re one on one, any good striker will bury it.
Hi Roy, what impressed me most wasn’t the finish but the way he nicked the ball away from Vidic and kept his balance at full speed. But I actually went back to watch the video and I have to admit it looked a little bit easier than I remembered it. I wouldn’t go as far as “one of the easiest of the season” though.:)
It is completely impossible that Torres made it look easy, right? He was a terror against Madrid. Funny how classy defenders (did you see what he did to Cannavaro) suddenly have their “worst games ever” against Torres.
Liverpool didn’t play crap, but they’ve played better thsi season too. I beleive the race would’ve been a little closer if Torres would’ve been healthy all season, but hey, you play with the cards you’re dealt, and we’re still not yet the complete picture.
Chelsea’ve not been good – but before people say that’s the reason we’re in the hunt for 2nd, we haven’t been AWESOME (over the entire season) either.