The two week implosion - where's my Strongbow?

After the entire internet ignored my blog for a few weeks, I received this comment after Liverpool's demolition of Aston Villa - “bad weekend for manc bloggers the world over”.

The writer left themselves anonymous but their succinctly put reply reminded me I hadn't made a post in a while. I haven't been avoiding it because I'm a fair-weather blogger, I just haven't had much to say in all honesty.

Needless to say, I could vent all day long about our attempts to destroy our season in a two week period. There are many factors to blame for our current arse-over-tit form; Ferguson's selections, big names prancing around the pitch like gurning women, sheer bad luck in some cases.

For Saturday's debacle I'm going to edge towards Ferguson being the main problem. In a game where we needed to stamp our authority early on and show the opposition that we weren't in the midst of a crisis of confidence, Ferguson decided to drop our best player and talisman, Wayne Rooney. This move was to accommodate Dimitar Berbatov, the last player in our entire squad that you would want at your side in battle, and a battle is exactly what we have turned the season into. Pairing him with Ronaldo was merely insult to injury, as a recalcitrant Ferguson seemed determined to prove that he had a trick up his sleeve to turn us around from our drubbing at home to Liverpool.

The midfield saw the teaming up of Giggs, Scholes, Fletcher and Park. Attacking outlets – virtually nothing. Now, don't get me wrong, they are all good players in their own right, but not in this combination. By removing Ronaldo from midfield, we had no real natural width (our main attacking strength when we play two wingers) and so our normal style was completely negated. Dropping Michael Carrick is simply moronic at any time.

The game itself started poorly, the penalty and sending off are almost inexplicable aside from the fact that Paul Scholes has form when it comes to playing volleyball in either box. He must shoulder a large portion of the blame for this result and won't shirk away from that responsibility, unlike our esteemed manager who will look to blame everyone but himself.

Once Danny Murphy did what he always does, that was all she wrote. At no stage were we ever going to get anything from this game.

Berbatov sulked around, Ronaldo moaned, the defence decried each other visibly all afternoon.

By the time Rooney was sent off for daring to throw the ball back to his team mates too quickly, we were already two down after a very fine finish from Zoltan Gera, a very good little player in his own right.

All was not lost, with Chelsea unexpectedly losing at White Hart Lane but Liverpool dispatched Aston Villa with consummate ease as they eased past our goal difference and to within one point of us in the table, albeit we do have a game in hand that won't be played until a couple of weeks from the conclusion of the season.

The international break couldn't come at a better time. Hopefully Ferguson will have noted how susceptible Aston Villa are looking at present and actually set out to impose our game on them, something we haven't done since the Fulham cup game. We'll have to do it without Vidic, Scholes and Rooney, with Berbatov possibly missing due to injury after leaving Craven Cottage with his foot in a cast after an awkward looking ankle injury. Is that a bad thing?

I didn't drink during the match. Two week self imposed hiatus from the sauce. What am I thinking?

Man Utd v Liverpool in the Champions League, please.

I'll cover the Inter game before I discuss our footballing lesson at the hands of Liverpool.

We won 2-0. We were woeful. Yet, we won.

OK, that's the Inter game covered.

Onto Saturday then...

I put a large portion of the blame onto our esteemed manager, who was maybe one too many whiskies down the line when he handed his team sheet in for this one.

Anderson? Seriously? In a game of this magnitude, you pair Carrick and Anderson together, and then decide to supplement that with Ji Sung Park? So basically you're inviting Liverpool onto you, the game after they've just won 4-0 against Read Madrid... Oh and guess what two players appeared in our 2-1 loss at Anfield in September? Anderson and Carrick. Inspired, Sir Alex. I doff my cap to you.

Well, at least you won't have made the mistake of picking Carlos Tevez up front.

Wait... what? YOU HAVE?!

Jesus is weeping openly at this stage.

End result of these choices?

A team devoid of any attacking presence in the centre of midfield, allowing Liverpool to put two players on Ronaldo at all times. The crowd around me loved having a moan about Ronaldo's failures all day, but for all Javier Mascherano's drawbacks he is a fantastic man-marker (his performance against Kaká in Athens was testament to that) and this coupled with Fabio Aurelio forcing the Portuguese inside (something Ronaldo normally revels in) towards the Argentine captain was enough to keep him quiet all day. This freed up acres of space in the centre of the park but sadly Anderson doesn't have the footballing brain to see such a thing and was a passenger for his much too lengthy stay on the pitch.

Anderson has ability, but is having a shocking second season and needs a stint in the reserves to realise the basics once more. Paul Scholes may have played on Wednesday night, but with the space afforded in centre midfield all day, he could have ran the show. So could Ryan Giggs, for that matter, who thrived in a similar game against Chelsea in January.

As for Tevez, well, not much needs to be said. Woeful positionally again, doesn't commit players, doesn't beat enough players and has a disgraceful shooting ability for one so lauded. Sadly, running around aimlessly all day still pushes some fans' buttons.

The back four had a mare. Simple as that. No excuses to be made. It happens. Given the number of games they've excelled in now for two and more years, I won't single any of them out and just say that days like Saturday are few and far between and sadly one came on the worst day possible. If they'd been on top form, we'd have struggled to have kept a superb Torres quiet and off the score sheet.

Rooney was wasted in exactly the same manner as from around 2004 to 2006 (and tellingly in the Anfield fixture this season) as a winger and could do nothing to impact the game, which wasn't his fault as he has never been a winger despite Ferguson's insistence that the biggest games mean playing your best player out of position.

By the time Ferguson made the much needed subs, he messed up again by destroying any shape we still had. It was 2-1 at the time, so no mad panic, but he abandoned all semblance of a formation by removing Michael Carrick, our best player at gelling the team together, Ji Sung Park who was our best player on the day and Tevez, which was his only good decision at any stage in the game. The three subs did the sum total of nothing but I doubt anyone could have in the system we were employing.

Rooney was now moved to the other wing, with Ronaldo suffering the same baffling treatment. Berbatov and Tevez went up front with Scholes and Giggs in midfield. I think. It was hard to tell what was going on before my eyes.

Ferguson's drivel about being the better team was expected, he rarely gets too critical during the season, and hopefully this will be a one off in what could be a season to eclipse 1998-99.

When the Champions League is drawn on Friday, I want Liverpool. I didn't before but now they are the only team I want to see. If we were to put them out of their beloved European Cup, the momentum would have shifted right back to Old Trafford and should put an end to their season. It should be the side that our players and Ferguson want to see, too.

Go on UEFA, rig it. You know you don't want the potential carnage of Man Utd versus Liverpool versus Rome.

I'd even want the second leg at Anfield.

Are three pints enough to see off Liverpool?

As promised, Three Pints has chipped in with his thoughts on current affairs surrounding those 'uns from the other end of the East Lancs.

So Mr Pints, I know you fairly well now and your opinions on current events around Anfield but try to outline for us your current state of minds regarding Rafa Benitez and specifically his rant (which can be heard here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZHosq1fxSM – if you need a reminder)...

As things are, Rafa Benitez is not the man to lead Liverpool to a League Title. His choice of football is far too defensive. People sometimes say that Jose won the league with Chelsea being defensive, but this is incorrect. Mourinho is a shrewd operator, and I'd like to see him take the helm at Liverpool. His rant was embarrassing. Whilst a lot of the stuff he said may or may not be true, the fact he came out publically and said it was no good. The effect it had on the players was evident as our form dropped quicker than a prostitutes pants.

The current situation at Anfield is definitely not ideal. Two American owners who don't give a rats ass and a Chief Executive who blocks transfers. Now, United have an American owner that doesn't care, but your manager is in control of absolutely everything. In our situation, Benitez has to ask Parry, and this obviously leads to a lot of friction. Solution? Yanks out, Parry out and Benitez either puts together a proper squad or he gets out too.

In a previous post on your blog, Three Pints, you mention a core of players you believe are vital to Liverpool and that the rest are basically expendable. Who do you blame for this accumulation of poor players? Rumours abound that Rick Parry undermines Benitez at every turn in terms of funds available and on players targeted...

I think the blame for our accumulation of poor players must be shared between both Parry and Benitez. Parry has been known to deny Benitez the funds required to sign the players he wants. An example of this is Gareth Barry (must point out I can't see why we'd swap Alonso for Barry) when Benitez didn't get the man he wanted. However, Benitez is the one who actually signs the dung. Babel, Kuyt, Lucas, Skrtel, Dossena, Benayoun. None of these players are good enough to be League Winners. You only have to look at what Liverpool do when we struggle in a game. United bring on Carlos Tevez, Liverpool bring on Ngog.

Given that Benitez guided you to the top of the table, the argument is there that the squad is good enough. I assume you don't agree, so do you agree with me that this year has seen a fairly poor performance across the board and that Liverpool simply took advantage of that until we found our form?

The only reason Liverpool were top of the league is because of the poor form of the other teams around them. It took you lot quite a while to find form. The fact we were still top after so many home draws is indicative of this. If you want to challenge for a league, you must win all your games at home. This is an absolutely vital part of becoming Champions. You also must impose your style of play on other teams. For instance, when we go away from home, we set out our team as it suits us and the other team sets out theirs to try and counter-act it. Not the other way around. We shouldn't go to other teams and change formation to try and defend against a possible threat. We play our game and force them to change! Manchester United do it, Chelsea did it when they were Champions. Arsenal too. To answer your question, no our squad is not good enough. Out of it, Reina, Agger, Carragher, Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano (ok, he's having a bad time but the quality is definitely there) and Torres can be considered good enough. The rest need shipped out and the team needs to be built around this spine. We need pacy wingers who aren't afraid to beat their man on the outside (Babel and Kuyt can't do this, they always go inside, Babel especially) and whip in a good ball. We need another GOOD centre forward. Someone to compliment Torres, in an ideal world, David Villa. We need two full backs, and not rubbish ones, I want Rafael and Evra standard please.

You come to Old Trafford hoping to do the league double over us, something you haven't done in a fair while... What team do you think Benitez will go for and would you change it? And what do you think the result will be?

I think we'll not go defensive like we would have if we were above you. We HAVE to win this game (well not really, I consider it over already) so I think we'll set out our stall in the usual manner. 4-5-1. Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Dossena/Aurelio (Aurelio is the less shit of the two), Arbeloa (I can't remember the injury situation at right back so I'm going with him) at the back. In the middle the usual, Gerrard and Alonso with Mascherano just behind. Kuyt and Riera out wide (yes, apparently Dirk Kuyt is a winger. Go figure). Up top Torres. Torres will be marked out of the game no doubt, by a very much in form United defence. We'll try feeding balls into him and they'll be cut out every time or else he'll get the ball 20 yards from goal with his back to goal and 4 defenders in his way. As for changing it, it's been shown this season that we actually cannot play any other formation successfully, so while I'd love to go 4-4-2 we just cannot do it (the fact we only have one decent striker doesn't help either). Player changes? Tough one. Again, we have no strength in depth, so it's like swapping piss for shit. As for the end result, I'm going to go for a clear win for United. 3-0, just like last time, except this time I really hope that little scrote Nani doesn't score one and Mascherano shuts his mouth.

If you do come away from OT with a win, is your title chase back on? How do you see the league panning out from here?

Even if we do win, it's 4 points with a game in hand for you, so realistically, we are still 7 points behind. I can't see you losing 3 games. No way. If you win, then it is most definitely over - 10 points with a game in hand. Our title challenge is over, and at the time of writing, the match tonight (Tuesday) makes or breaks our season. Get dumped out of the Champions League and this really has been a shitty season (I may go as far to say that even if we win the CL it's been a shit season).  As for the league panning out, I see United winning it by some distance. 13, 15 points clear, or something like that.

And finally... The Quintuple – can we do it?

Yes. Who is going to beat you? You are in unstoppable form and it's going to take some seriously bad luck or a serious off day for you to lose. At the very least, you'll clean up domestically and possibly get a bad draw in the Champions League (us :p). Come on Inter Milan, might I add. But in all seriousness, I think the quintuple is most definitely on and you have a good enough squad that you can rotate players to prevent burnout and not compromise quality. The Quintuple is there for you, the only people who will stop you winning it is yourselves.

Well, even I must say, I didn't expect our lad to be as defeatist as this. The Quintuple is never happening in my opinion, but I am glad to see that you've seen through Skrtel for the poor player he is!

You can read more from Three Pints at his blog, www.threepints.co.uk and it's linked from my read blogs section.

I set off early doors tomorrow for Manchester, armed with cider and a Gogs. It could get messy.

Inventive title here or summat.

It's been a while since I've had a few minutes to sit down and write out my thoughts but I'll try to keep this brief.

On Wednesday night, I took my chances and took a seat amongst the Geordies at St. James' Park, situated directly below the away end. The chill in the air seemed especially bitter as Van Der Sar made a monumental error to throw away the clean sheet record he was amassing, gifting the ball straight to Lovenkrand's feet as the ex-Rangers player tapped it in. I almost forgot to look happy as the goal went in. The game itself, as many do, blurs for me (yes, cider) but I clearly remember Rooney's shot for the equaliser slamming home and just about stopping myself from exalting the striker, scoring in his fourth start in a row. I'm told that what didn't look too serious from our spot high in the stand when Taylor could have been sent off and that we could have had a penalty, but this was washed away by Berbatov's finish to give us the win. This time I was unable to keep myself under control and jumped from my seat, fist in the air, before catching myself in the nick of time and proclaiming, “For fuck sake, Newcastle”... Ahem.

One thing that should be noted is that on going 1-0 down, our fans were louder than ever and made the Newcastle crowd seem non-existent. This is in stark contrast to the game at the Riverside I covered in my last post. There's a real buzz around the team now that we can and will get ourselves out of anything.

After that game, I found myself downing tequila, Aftershock and Jagerbombs, so you'll forgive any lapses in memorable content from the game.

Fast forward a couple of days, and I was in London for the cup game against Fulham, but sadly I wasn't at the game, rather a weekend away planned a long time ago. I managed to catch the game and was initially worried by more indecision at the back, VDS looking a bit worried on occasion but we soon settled down and a promising Carlos Tevez performance was the icing on the cake for a game that in honesty we sailed through, though again injuries to Ferdinand and O'Shea are worrying. The only thing that kept us from Champions League success two years ago was the crippling injury list to the back line and we are teetering on the edge of that again.

I'm hoping to find time tomorrow to have a word with the writer of Three Pints and ask him a few questions about the upcoming game against Liverpool and where he thinks things have gone wrong. You can read his work at www.threepints.co.uk.

Inter Milan on Wednesday. Someone buy me a new liver.

The Carling Cup comes calling, Liverpool left lamenting

Well, the curtain has been drawn on the Carling Cup for another year, and after the stands had emptied, Champagne spilled and the floodlights turned off, it was Manchester United who left the ground as winners.

As the players had strode up the steps to receive the cup, Ben Foster carried on that unusual trait of goalkeepers by leaving his gloves on for the celebrations. Perhaps he was scared of dropping his Man of the Match bottle of bubbly or even the Carling Cup, a trophy notable only for its lack of size. It reminds me of the trophies my father used to bring home after once again winning Player of the Year in his local pool league.

I had my usual cider haze going on that just about dulled the edge of nerves. Actually, I was still essentially sober at kick off. I found it hard to get worked up for this one from the edge of my sofa, a hotel room going to waste down in London as I failed to secure tickets in time, but by the latter stages of the game both my nerves and the Strongbow were running on empty. I made a strange comment, well for me anyway, as the game progressed through extra time, to my girlfriend... “I just can't see us losing this, there's something about us this year.” and even a post made on a forum as I waited for the penalties proclaiming that Tevez would take the first penalty (he didn't), would go the same side he always does (he did) and he would miss (thankfully, he did not) was more said in preparation to be shocked rather than honest belief.

Once again we looked assured at penalties, almost German to use a stereotype, with four excellent spot kicks being enough to seal the win after O'Hara hit a weak spot kick that Foster saved well and the massively disappointing David Bentley failed to even find the target from just 12 yards. It was fitting that Foster had a winning ticket in the lottery of penalties, having kept us in the game twice with smart saves from Aaron Lennon and Darren Bent. The former was especially impressive, having a field day against Patrice Evra who looked at odds with the former Leeds player's direct running at times but once again Lennon's final ball wasn't quite up to scratch.

Overall, the game won't leave too many lingering memories, it wasn't a showcase of fantastic football. There were a couple of talking points along the way... how did John O'Shea stay on the pitch after as blatant a second yellow tackle you'll ever see? What was going through Foy's mind when he booked Ronaldo for clearly being taken down after a good bit of footwork saw him nip the ball away from Ledley King's despairing lunge? A combination of not wanting to send anyone off and fear of being labelled a ref willing to accept Ronaldo's perceived diving I guess. Either way, even these thoughts will fade into the mists of time as there can be little time for panegyric as time moves fast in football these days and the small matter of a game at St. James' Park on Wednesday closes in, a game I do have tickets for in a marathon couple of weeks of football for myself.

I started this off with the pleasure of taking up a seat at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday afternoon, hopeful, but not expectant, that our dear old friends from Teesside could fashion a nail for the Anfield coffin. As always, I had a couple of pints down my neck by the time I took my seat, and was actually reasonably impressed by the Riverside Stadium. It gets a reputation as a soulless, empty bowl but there was good voice on show on this day and the stadium looked full to my eye. The Liverpool fans were located in the stand to my right (as time went on in the game, it became clear that there were also away fans located in the three seats immediately to my right as well as directly behind me) and I could not help but be unimpressed with the so called legendary travelling Kop.

Like most away sides they piped up early on with their biggest songs, You'll Never Walk Alone aka The Celtic Song, Fields of Anfield Road aka a butchered version of the other Celtic song, a couple of other nice ditties before their Torres song, which apparently we stole to sing about John O'Shea. Ahem. Needless to say, not a peep was to be heard once the first goal went in, right in front of their stand, as the woeful Skrtel tried to hide from all around and Xabi Alonso stared to the skies, presumably offering a prayer for the dying title challenge.

The man sitting directly to my right could do nothing but offer muted applause as the locals danced and cheered around him. I assume his mate was trying to be even less conspicuous, wearing an England shirt (Liverpool fans, like our own, famously don't have much time for their national team... although is that now Spain in their case? Yea, they won the Euros, they'll be having some of that then) but his face visibly soured as time pressed on and he disappeared for a while, probably to fill up on some of the familiar Carlsberg on offer from the concourse bar. At full time, the Scouser sat behind me muttered to his mate, “We've just handed the Mancs the title.” which I don't agree with just yet. I even heard one of the Boro fans saying, “The only bad thing about today is helping United”. Bad thing? Wash your mouth out, fella. This was a glorious day. Even as I made my way back into town, I received a text message informing me that Kapo had equalised for Wigan just for Lampard to net an injury time winner I had to smile as it meant Liverpool had dropped to third. Next year will be your year, friends. Next year.