Damning Verdict

[Marky]

Mascherano's mad moment is a smokescreen for Liverpool's all-round failure


Benítez should be worried that his team's spine collapsed under United's challenge

Andy Hunter
Tuesday March 25, 2008
The Guardian


According to eyewitnesses it was the most innocent request that condemned Javier Mascherano at Old Trafford. "What's happening?" is all the Argentinian is alleged to have asked of straight-backed, straight-laced Steve Bennett to warrant a second yellow card and the possible wrath of a Football Association with new-found intolerance for dissent towards referees. Irrespective of the current climate about respect, the 20-yard dash that preceded the red card and the fury that followed, Mascherano erred badly in asking the question of Bennett. It should have been addressed to his Liverpool team-mates.

What happened at Old Trafford was galling in the extreme for Liverpool supporters, particularly as it resembled a significant step closer to a 17th league title for a hated rival and confirmed what amounts to heresy on the Kop these days; that Tom Hicks was absolutely right. The Liverpool co-chairman has hardly displayed the Midas touch in his 13 months at Anfield but the assertion that Rafael Benítez's players lack self-belief against Manchester United rang as true on Easter Sunday as it did in December, when the Texan delivered the damning verdict following the champions' 1-0 win on Merseyside.
Then, as on Sunday, Liverpool confronted Sir Alex Ferguson's side with genuine confidence that the first Benítez triumph over United in the Premier League was at hand. Liverpool headed to Old Trafford on the back of seven successive victories and in settled, stylish form.

At Anfield, despite a first league defeat of the season at Reading the previous weekend, they hosted United having won six of seven fixtures, scoring 26 goals in the process and having salvaged qualification to the Champions League knockout phase with the destruction of Marseille at Stade Vélodrome. Yet in neither confrontation with United did Liverpool show the confidence Benítez claimed was coursing through his team before kick-off.

Mascherano's dismissal "finished the game" according to the Liverpool manager. It undeniably cleared United's path to victory but the pattern of their dominant performance had been established with the influential Argentinian on the pitch. His second yellow card and the loss of self-control that followed was a smokescreen on Liverpool's meagre offering, one Benítez clung to afterwards. Roberto Mancini did the same when Marco Materazzi and Nicolas Burdisso were dismissed in the first and second legs respectively of Internazionale's Champions League defeat by Liverpool. His protestations, like those of Benítez, were from a manager well beaten, not one cursed by misfortune.

What happened to prompt Mascherano's ill-advised conversation with Bennett revealed plenty about Liverpool at Old Trafford. The midfielder's rage was stoked by a harsh booking for Fernando Torres after the Spaniard had collected the ball on the half-way line, embarked on a solo run with little support and protested too loud for the referee's liking following another clip to his ankles. Torres rampaging from deep is an attribute Liverpool had exploited frequently before Sunday but it was their only outlet against United as the Spain international toiled in isolation.

Ferguson's players should take the credit for stifling Liverpool's supply to their 27-goal forward. Their dominance of the Liverpool midfield was absolute, although the resistance United encountered was negligible. The ease with which they outmanoeuvred their opponents, starting when Anderson sent Wayne Rooney clear of the visiting defence in United's first attack, was evident throughout.

It was the individual performances from the spine of the Liverpool team that alarmed most of all against the reigning champions. Jose Reina, Jamie Carragher, Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard, Torres and potentially Martin Skrtel should not be found wanting in a game of this importance and, in the Champions League, very rarely are. They are a spine Benítez would hope to construct a championship challenge around, provided he can add comparable quality down both flanks. With the exception of Torres, however, not one impressed at Old Trafford.

Carragher and Skrtel were constantly unsettled by the outstanding movement and alertness of Rooney and it spoke volumes about Liverpool's defensive performance that Fabio Aurelio was their most assured presence at the back. Their prospects of containing Rooney or tracking the runs of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Anderson were not aided by the midfield in front of them.

Gerrard has blossomed in Benitez's 4-2-3-1 system recently but was starved of possession. The benefit of hindsight suggests he should have spoken to Mascherano long before the 43rd minute, too. Mascherano, praised to the high heavens before the game, was a liability during and after his allocated time on the pitch.

His indiscretion means Liverpool cannot forget Old Trafford as quickly as they would wish. The return of the Champions League cannot come quickly enough.

The big-four buys of last summer

Liverpool

Fernando Torres - Atl Madrid £26.5m

Ryan Babel - Ajax £11.5m

Yossi Benayoun - West Ham £5m

Lucas Leiva - Gremio £5m

Sebastian Leto - Lanus £1.85m

Daniel Pachecho - Barcelona £350k

Mikel Dominguez - Athletic Bilbao £270k

Charles Itandje - Lens UD

Krisztian Nemeth - MTK UD

Andras Simon - MTK UD

Ryan Crowther - Stockport UD

Damian Plessis - Lyon UD

Andriy Voronin - Leverkusen Free

Total £50. 47m

Manchester United

Owen Hargreaves - Bayern Munich £17m

Anderson - Porto £17m

Nani - Sporting Lisbon £14m

Tomas Kuszczak - West Brom £2m

Carlos Tevez - West Ham UD

Total £50m

Chelsea

Malouda - Lyon £13.5m

Juliano Belletti - Barcelona £3.75m

Jacob Mellis - Sheff Utd £1m

Danny Philliskirk - Oldham UD

Alex - PSV Free

Claudio Pizarro - Bayern Munich Free

Tal Ben Haim - Bolton Free

Steve Sidwell - Reading Free

Total £18.25m

Arsenal

Eduardo - Dinamo Zagreb £10m

Bacary Sagna - Auxerre £6m

Lukasz Fabianski - Legia Warsaw £2m

Lassana Diarra - Chelsea UD

Havard Nordtveit - FK Haugesund UD

Total £18m

All transfer totals exclude undisclosed (UD) fees

[DannyMan2006]

Had Reina not been ****e at coming for crosses and Mascher not got sent off, It'd been a different picture.

But then Inter Milan could have pointed to the same thing in the San Siro. Had The ref not been conned by Malouda we would probably have beaten Chelsea.

When you play teams at the top it's all about the fine deatails. It was not a damning verdict. What will be will the final league table at the end of the season.

And looks likely to be a 14 point gap or more with us resting players for the CL if we can brush a side Everton.

We all knew we needed a couple of big players more, a RW being the main concern. That remains to be the case.

[Mr Tourette]

All these articles seem to forget that we had 10 men and they had 11 for the majority of the game. Of course they dominated in midfield. They were marginally better than us prior to the sending off and had only scored as a result of a goalkeeping error.

Generally they are a better team than us is most areas. They keep the ball better, have more class, pace and skill, but these reports are overly harsh. we arent nearly as bad as everyone is making out.

....and what is that transfer list all about. It states the max figure for torres of 26m then completely leaves off the figure for tevez - which everyone knows will be 20 million plus.

couple more class players, a serious rethink of his tactics, rotation, general approach to the premier league - coupled with a hurdling of our mental block against the top with a smattering of better luck with the referees and we can perhaps at least be involved in the title race in the coming years.

[Shanks]

Daniel Pachecho - Barcelona £350k

I think this kid may turn out to be something special.

Looked good so far in the reserves.

[DannyMan2006]

All these articles seem to forget that we had 10 men and they had 11 for the majority of the game. Of course they dominated in midfield. They were marginally better than us prior to the sending off and had only scored as a result of a goalkeeping error.

Generally they are a better team than us is most areas. They keep the ball better, have more class, pace and skill, but these reports are overly harsh. we arent nearly as bad as everyone is making out.

....and what is that transfer list all about. It states the max figure for torres of 26m then completely leaves off the figure for tevez - which everyone knows will be 20 million plus.
couple more class players, a serious rethink of his tactics, rotation, general approach to the premier league - coupled with a hurdling of our mental block against the top with a smattering of better luck with the referees and we can perhaps at least be involved in the title race in the coming years.

Doesn't mention Mascher and Skrtel fee either though. I know both was paid in Jan, but it's still cash spent. And the Mancs aint paid for Tevez yet, only the loan fee like we did with Mascher.

[DannyMan2006]

I think this kid may turn out to be something special.

Looked good so far in the reserves.

And Nemeth.

[Mr Tourette]

re reading that article - it maddens me even more - make these damning assessments by all means after a straight up game 11 v 11. But benitez is 100% correct the sending off renderes the game impossible to judge fairly. And to suggest that united were completely dominating before the sending off is vastly exagerated in my view. was i watching a different game??

[Nicey]

What a load of Cock Custard !

[Guest]

What a load of Cock Custard !

You mean cum ?

[frank the tank]

it also doesn't mention the money received in transfer fees now does it??? i hate that media ****-stirring ****e..... if lfc were to sell torres, gerrard, mascher and alonso, for a combined fee of 100m, and then spent 110m on players, does that mean we should win the league straight away because we spent 110m in one season......fcukin idiots

bellamy - 8.5m
cisse - 6m
garcia - 4.5m

also, torres DID NOT COST 26½M.........

[Johnny]

it also doesn't mention the money received in transfer fees now does it??? i hate that media ****-stirring ****e..... if lfc were to sell torres, gerrard, mascher and alonso, for a combined fee of 100m, and then spent 110m on players, does that mean we should win the league straight away because we spent 110m in one season......fcukin idiots

bellamy - 8.5m
cisse - 6m
garcia - 4.5m

also, torres DID NOT COST 26½M.........

Don`t forget Momo.

[ronanm]

Did not see the game (well, saw the 1st 10 mins), but yet again it seems we were overawed by Old Trafford.

[fred_plasticine]

why kid ourselves? the article's pretty much spot-on.
you can't get away from the fact that we bottled it big time.
united outclassed us because we let them. there was no real determination in our play that
made you suggest we actually believed we could win that game.
we won seven on the trot yet played as if we'd been on a losing streak.

there were too many individual and collective mistakes being made well before the send off and if it wasn't for reina we'd have been 2 or 3 goals down before half time.
we simply didn't show up, like arsenal didn't against them in the cup.

the sending off was harsh but everybody knew he had it coming all game long.
it didn't cost us the game but gave us a perfect excuse for our non-show, simple as that.

in the league we lack self-believe and that's why we find ourselves playing for 4th spot again.
better players will certainly help but our key players need to overcome their mental block if we want to be champions.

[Tee]

why kid ourselves? the article's pretty much spot-on.
you can't get away from the fact that we bottled it big time.
united outclassed us because we let them. there was no real determination in our play that
made you suggest we actually believed we could win that game.
we won seven on the trot yet played as if we'd been on a losing streak.

there were too many individual and collective mistakes being made well before the send off and if it wasn't for reina we'd have been 2 or 3 goals down before half time.
we simply didn't show up, like arsenal didn't against them in the cup.

the sending off was harsh but everybody knew he had it coming all game long.
it didn't cost us the game but gave us a perfect excuse for our non-show, simple as that.

in the league we lack self-believe and that's why we find ourselves playing for 4th spot again.
better players will certainly help but our key players need to overcome their mental block if we want to be champions.

I just hope Rafa tells the players how bad they were rather than making them feel like victims of an injustice, because the bottom line is we did not show up for that game.

It was the first time I have ever seen a Liverpool team not up for the fight v Utd. As I have said before though, I feel sure that Everton will feel the backlash.

[Mr Tourette]

why kid ourselves? the article's pretty much spot-on.
you can't get away from the fact that we bottled it big time.
united outclassed us because we let them. there was no real determination in our play that
made you suggest we actually believed we could win that game.
we won seven on the trot yet played as if we'd been on a losing streak.

there were too many individual and collective mistakes being made well before the send off and if it wasn't for reina we'd have been 2 or 3 goals down before half time.
we simply didn't show up, like arsenal didn't against them in the cup.

the sending off was harsh but everybody knew he had it coming all game long.
it didn't cost us the game but gave us a perfect excuse for our non-show, simple as that.

in the league we lack self-believe and that's why we find ourselves playing for 4th spot again.
better players will certainly help but our key players need to overcome their mental block if we want to be champions.

For ****s sake - it was 10 v 11 - against the best side in the country. They are better than us - thats a fact - but to call us bottlers and say we were awful is a load bollox. this game would not have finished 3-0 had mascherano not been sent off.