The Media's Verdict on Manchester United - Liverpool
Liverpool and Manchester United supporters will have their own opinions on Sunday's match but what did the journalists from the national press make of the clash between the two giants of the North West?
Here's just a selection of what was written about the match in today's national newspapers...
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The Liverpool revival under Rafael Benitez is every bit as real as United's decline over the past few years. This was a gloriously satisfying victory for United, a reminder of the times when they would routinely score late winners at the Stretford End, but the comparisons with the glory days did not go much farther. Time will tell whether a first defeat in 13 Premiership matches has a deflating effect on a Liverpool team entering their most demanding period of the season, but on the balance of play yesterday, it was hard to escape the conclusion that the second-best team in England were the ones wearing white shirts. Liverpool controlled the game throughout, with Steven Gerrard and Mohammed Sissoko dwarfing the relative pygmies in a makeshift home midfield, but were made to pay the price for retreating fatally when the United rally came, largely courtesy of Rooney and Ryan Giggs.
Oliver Kay
The Times
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PRIDE OF THE NORTH WEST? Still Liverpool as far as I am concerned. As they did against Chelsea, Manchester United have nicked a fortunate win against a superior team. Short-term elation for them, but for the long haul, Liverpool look a better bet to finish second come the end of the season. With their two matches in hand, they could rise above United sooner rather than later. Rafael Benitez's men will be pig sick at losing, especially in such a cruel way, but they should take comfort from the knowledge that they were better from back to front. Especially in the midfield, where Mohamed Sissoko, Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso ran the show. Committed, tough-tackling with a mean streak, they break up the play and ease the pressure on the defence. United's midfield is nowhere near as effective. It also struck me how tall Liverpool's players are. That can only make the team more intimidating.
Tony Cascarino
The Times
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This report should say United ambushed their biggest enemy, then declared war on Jose Mourinho's men, marching down the M6 with battle standard raised. Today Liverpool, tomorrow the world. But it didn't feel that way. It looked liker a desperate header from a centre half rescuing the club from creeping mediocrity. It was a result that told a fib. They won the struggle to be regarded as the second best team in England, but failed to win the wider battle for hearts and minds. The few remaining players who still have class of '92 running through them like a stick of rock aren't blind to the drop in standards. When Liverpool's fine run of victories and a draw in 12 Premiership outings was finally stopped, Gary Neville patented a Mancunian haka in front of the visitors' end – grabbing his shorts and kissing his badge like an especially truculent All Black.
Paul Hayward
The Daily Mail
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United had been forced to endure far more than Liverpool in just about every respect until the last few minutes of a tense, enthralling but largely uneventful encounter. The European champions had enjoyed the majority of possession, had dominated midfield and created the better of the chances. Sadly for those hoping to see a side put pressure on Chelsea, the wrong side secured victory. Had Liverpool beaten their great rivals and they won their two games in hand, they would have been seven points adrift of the premiership leaders. As it is, and only someone as determined as Gerrard may refuse to except this, the chance to catch Jose Mourinho's side has now gone.
Matt Lawton
Daily Mail
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Liverpool can be proud of the way they went about their business. It was a tight game but Liverpool were the better side. United were wounded after their defeat in the derby match last week so for Liverpool to go to Old Trafford and do so well is a great tribute to them. I still think in the general scheme of things Liverpool are in a better position than United, even though they lost yesterday. If you were a Liverpool fan you would be unhappy with the result but happy with the performance and you could see that at the end as United players celebrated as though they had won the Cup final.
Alan Hansen
The Daily Telegraph
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Manchester United remain second in the Premiership and the great symbolic shift in the power structure of English football was put on hold, at least until Liverpool play their two games in hand. Meanwhile, Rafael Benitez had to join Jose Mourinho in contemplating the dismantling here of an unbeaten run without having any real evidence to help him understand how it happened. Liverpool should have won this game. For most of it they had more possession, more chances and a little more purpose. This was not a match imprinted with the usual classic qualities of these two snarling sets of rivals. Yet that too might offer a pointer to the way that Benitez is reeling in United and preparing them to take over the mantle of Chelsea's most serious challengers. He is doing it gradually, methodically, without any big, symbolic statements of intent against the other battalions of the Big Four. You left Old Trafford yesterday with the impression that United might only stem the tide of the sea change for a little while longer.
John Dillon
Daily Express
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Liverpool were left as frustrated as much as angry because they had held the upper hand for much of the game and squandered the clearest chance of all. But Ferdinand's goal came so late there was no time for Rafa Benitez's side to retrieve their unbeaten league record that had stretched back 12 matches to the defeat at Fulham in October. United were far from convincing but they produced the sweat, passion and determination that was lacking in the Manchester derby defeat. The fact United took 87 minutes to force their first cornerunderlined Liverpool's relative comfort.
Richard Tanner
Daily Express
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Liverpool made their hosts suffer in the first half, mostly by doing the simple things with passable efficiency. For long spells United could not even manage that. In the centre of Benitez's midfield, Mohamed Sissoko and Xabi Alonso were producing exactly the combination of strength and deliberation that United lacked. For those 45 minutes the three Glazer brothers, watching from the directors' box, must have been wondering why their new team had no quarterback to direct the play and get the forwards moving. And if the Premiership kept pass-completion statistics, United would surely have been establishing a new all-comers' low for the season.
Richard Williams
The Guardian
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In the wider development of United and Liverpool and the struggle to establish themselves as Chelsea's principle challengers - it is impossible not to feel that, for long periods of time in this game, Benitez's team looked far healthier. Wayne Rooney refused to accept that Liverpool had come along to announce that his team had slipped down another rank in the pecking order of English football's aristocracy. That, though might well have been the reality but for United's late strike. The truth was that Liverpool for most of the time did look much more the coherent force. They covered the ground and generally looked the more confident side. Benitez has made extraordinary progress at Anfield but he is still a long way from settling on a strike force of genuine conviction.
Sam Wallace
The independent
