Man Utd 2
Liverpool 2
Once again, United were pegged back when in the lead but at least this time round, with 17 minutes to go after the equaliser, we managed to hold on to the draw. And being as objective as I’m likely to be in such instances, a draw is as much as we could possibly demand from this match.
After a rather mediocre first half in which we were not only trailing 0-1, but comprehensively outplayed with our opponents having 15 shots against our zero attempts, there was not much one could aspire to in the second half. And yet, football is a funny game and I’ve been around long enough to know this. One moment of madness from a Liverpool defender allowed Bruno to equalise from distance. It was not an easy conclusion but he got this one right. And astonishingly, we took the lead with a wonder goal by that kid Mainoo! 2-1 up, perhaps underserved, surely unexpected, but could we hold on with 23 minutes plus added time to go? With recent results when trying to defend a lead not being too fruitful, if I were ETH, I would have gone for the 3rd goal. Instead ETH made defensive changes and as has happened several times this season, we still did not manage the lead.
AWB is not one who lunges in recklessly in the box normally but in my book, he did not have to opt for the lunge today because once you do, you commit yourself. Yet another penalty conceded, and it was 2-2. 15 more minutes were played after the equaliser and we were holding on for most of the time but it ended 2-2.
Most United supporters would be happy that we put a dent on Liverpool’s title challenge but I refuse to accept that the main purpose of winning this match was only to put a spoke in the wheels of the scouser’s title race. The players had to try and win it for pride, passion, the supporters, the manager, the new ownership. So many motivations. I want to see passion in every player and during every match and sadly this was not the case this season in many matches.
The first half was rather embarrassing and the two goals which gained us a point today are not enough to say we had a good game. Casemiro and Rashford were poor again, Hojlund never got a sniff, Garancho well marked but still our main threat. Maguire shaky start and Kambwala did well and showed a lot of passion. We need more players like him on the pitch.
49 points from 31 matches is not good enough and we may very well not make the 60 point mark this season so that Wembley match vs Coventry is becoming more and more important….Numquam Moribimur!
