Fabio Aurelio and Daniel Agger back on first-team defense, Dirk Kuyt nominally paired with Fernando Torres up top, Steven Gerrard in attacking midfield — Kenny Dalglish set up his side like the past 18 months of poor form were just a bad dream.
It worked.
Sure, Liverpool lost the match at Old Trafford, and United couldn’t have seen much more of the ball if they were alone on the pitch, but there’s no denying that Liverpool looked good — surely enough to make you optimistic.
Few matches more clearly were swayed by a referee than Sunday’s tie. Howard Webb gave Dimitar Berbatov a penalty kick just moments into the match. Berbatov was lightly fouled by Agger in an area well wide of the goal where he had no real opportunity to score.
It was harsh, but nowhere nearly as damning as Webb’s awarding of a red card to Gerrard. The captain did come in relatively recklessly and with both feet in the air, but he had a clear path to the ball, and his collision with Michael Carrick was not with his raised cleats, but with the side of his body. While the call was again nominally correct, it was a shocking decision. It would have been less surprising if no card was given at all.
During the first third of the match, Liverpool really was United’s equal. They caught their rivals on counter-attacks, generated set pieces, held the ball in the final third, and Gerrard and Torres appeared to have a chemistry that was never evident with Roy Hodgson at the helm. Most strikingly, Liverpool actually pressured the ball — something that surely never happened under Hodgson.
Simply put, Liverpool were even in the run of play on the road against a team that hasn’t lost a significant match since last April. That’s pretty good.
After Liverpool went down to 10 men, they were forced to only attack in short bursts of possession, but they still looked a threat to score. Martin Kelly not only did a fantastic job of pressing forward from the back with incisive runs on the counter, but also he was Liverpool’s best defender. He proved again that he is Liverpool’s best young player, one that will be a point of great strength for years to come.
Even Ryan Babel added something to the side when he came on as a substitute, creating a couple of good chances. When was the last time you could say that?
The performance, though, wasn’t perfect. Manchester United were unlucky to not score on at least two occasions — Johnny Evans‘ header off the inside of the post and the barrage of shots off a second-half corner that gave United a handful of easy chances to convert.
Martin Skrtel had another poor game in central defense — begging the question whether he or Sotirios Kyrgiakos should be first choice in Jamie Carragher’s absense. Maxi Rodriguez, Lucas and Raul Meireles never really came into the game, being outworked by United’s midfield — but such happens to most midfields at Old Trafford. Also, it should be said that Torres was greatly affected by Gerrard’s sending off, unable to become involved and link with his other midfielders.
Still, the team appeared veritably energized, and did things that it had not done under Hodgson. The selections of Aurelio and Agger gave them class in defense that had not been present earlier this season. The selection of Kelly over Paul Konchesky gave the team much more in both directions — in addition to a reason for great optimism — and the significance of Gerrard and Torres in the first half hour was what Liverpool fans had come to expect. The team played with energy and was able to connect passes in the attacking half.
Whether or not the stark changes can be totally attributed to Dalglish’s replacement of Hodgson really cannot be said, but if the side’s subsequent performances are as good, it will be clear that the managerial change was an intelligent one.
Liverpool’s loss may have knocked them out of the FA Cup, but with the Europa League and Premier League to worry about, that could be a blessing in disguise.
Now, all Liverpool must do is play a second game of good soccer in a row — something that never happened under Hodgson. Maybe, they could even go on a run of a handful of quality games and find themselves back in the thick of things in the table.
Something tells me that, under Dalglish, such may just be in store.
Will Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool build off Sunday’s performance? Leave your thoughts below.
