Securing three points is always a joyous occasion for a Manchester United fan, achieving it the way it was on Sunday gives an incredible buzz, but doing it against your biggest rivals is simply euphoric! And seeing your opponents struggling one point away from the danger zone is the icing on the cake. It’s a well known fact that the start of a new season sets the tone for the rest of the campaign and five points in five matches for Liverpool equates to 38 out of 38 – the same number that Sheffield United got relegated with just three years ago. But surely, it’s far too early in the season for Anfield fans to be really concerned – or is it?
Not that we should be gloating about anyones misfortune of course but hey, someone has to suffer the humiliation of being relegated. Perhaps the biggest satisfaction of all was witnessing the man that the Anfield mob took so much pleasure in deriding as ‘Berbaflop’, ramming that insult down their throat as he stole the show with a virtuoso display that left Liverpool shattered and languishing near the foot of the table in 16th position after five games.
That was as sweet as it gets for someone who has never been backward in telling anyone prepared to listen that the Bulgarian maestro was sheer class ever since Sir Alex Ferguson paid a record transfer fee to lure him from Tottenham. To be fair, it has not only been Liverpool fans who have been so derogatory to a player that no sane Premier League manager would ever refuse to have in his team. His many critics have even included a section of United fans who have been blind to Berbatovs huge football talent for the last two years.
His two strikes in the first hour confirmed United’s total domination of their rivals before allowing them a sniff of survival but that was only giving their opponents a false glimmer of hope. Liverpool somehow drew level from two Steven Gerrard set pieces only for Berbatov to turn their dreams into an Old Trafford nightmare by outmaneuvering Jamie Carragher inside the box and guide his header past keeper Pepe Reina for a sensational winner.
Ferguson had been heavily criticised earlier in the week for not including Berbatov in the squad that was unable to crack a resolute Rangers defence in the Champions League but the wily old fox may have known exactly what he was doing. Had Sir Alex taken the risk of Berbatov getting the slightest of knocks in that game, he may not have possessed the same razor sharp reflexes which proved so crucial on Sunday in what was the most critical clash of the season so far.
So what does such an afternoon mean for the rest of the season? Plenty. It has become painfully obvious that Wayne Rooney is going through a difficult period. The man has not been the same dynamic goalscorer that he was before his injury in Munich last season and personal problems are not going to help him overcome his mini crisis. Not just yet anyway.
Berbatov has shown however that what may be lost on the swing can be gained on the roundabout and is more than capable of stepping up to the plate. The ovation he received from the 75,000 fans packed into Old Trafford as he was replaced after 88 minutes included, to their credit, many of the Liverpool travelling support and must have been enormously uplifting for the humble Bulgarian.
The last time a hat trick was scored by a Manchester United player against Liverpool at Old Trafford was when Joe Spence banged three home in 1928 as part of a 6-1 victory. That’s 82 years ago so just try and imagine such a time span, it’s an entire lifetime!
Team mate Patrice Evra was not at all surprised by the brilliance of Berbatov’s second goal and commented that its a simple routine for the Bulgarian to show such touches at training everyday. “Too many touches like this at training you know, I am not surprised because Dimitar is the kind of player who can score many goals like this”
Ferguson could not hide his delight after the game “We are probably now beginning to see Dimitar believe in himself. There was a lot of criticism of him last season, but it happens when players sign for United for a lot of money and they aren’t scoring hat tricks in every game. That’s the way of the world with some players who come here but this season he has started in the right fashion. His training has been good, he was good on the pre season tour and he has carried it on. There has never been any doubt about his quality and we have seen it again today” he said.
Getting the better of Liverpool means a hell of a lot to Sir Alex “The build up to these games is such that if one doesn’t win it’s a catastrophe” he continued “for Liverpool this is a catastrophe. People are now talking about Liverpool not winning and it would be the same if we hadn’t. That’s the nature of these games.”
Catastrophic may be too strong a word at this early stage of the season but Ferguson saw the lack of quality in this Liverpool side first hand. Their position on the table does not sit well with the Anfield faithful, their major concern being that should some of their key players remain unsettled they may just have to get used to it. Even the dreaded ‘R’ word could start to be heard in conjunction with their beloved team more and more frequently as the season develops.
Will the return of Ferdinand be enough to correct the flaws in United’s defence?
LOL what tripe, i dont see Liverpool or Manu as a threat this year.
Liverpool are a mid table team yes, but relagation contenders? i dont like em either but please dont make me laugh, are you like 10 years old and just trying to wind one of your school buddies up?
Manu have hardly set the prem alite so far either, you beat a mediocre mid table Liverpool side yet despite this you feel its a humongus achievement despite in the same breath you will call them rubbish???????
Either you beat a poor team by only one goal at home and therefor did average at best or you beat a great side?? Beating a poor side does not make this a great victory.
Oh and in regards to the comments about Berbatov, Liverpool fans are right he was a flop for a good year or so, so he finally scored a few, I do beleive that many of your own fans were saying the same themselves and calling him all the names under the sun, apparently you were also trying to offload him at one point, how thickle your fans are, and massive hypacrits by the sounds of Fergie rants this morning
Tosser
I have to laugh. The guy has been at OT for 3 years and done absolutely nothing to justify his 30m price tag. Always the saying “next season will be his season” from the United faithful. He scores a hat-trick of goals in a single game and now all of a sudden he’s worth every penny. 30m = 10m per goal yesterday. Money VERY well spent there, United 🙂
On an unrelated note, Ferguson’s comments regarding Torres trying to get O’Shea sent off are hilarious. There is no way a 40 year old keeper would have beaten one of the fastest strikers in the league to that ball, therefore O’Seah stopped a direct goal chance.
Maybe he should take a step back and look at his own players and their diving antics before opening his mouth. He’s getting a little embarrassing with his comments in the last few seasons and he’s starting to show his age.
Chelsea for the title after seeing United nearly blow a 2-0 lead again!
Yeah have a laugh at our expense. Don’t worry, Manure are about to fall from grace too. Your debt is much bigger than ours, your players are getting older, and with no money to invest in new talent, your stupid club will face the same burdens as what we are currently facing. Keep your head up, because in a year or 2 you will be facing mid table mediocrity as well..
Well, funnier than anything is the fact that the comments are posted by non United fans. This is supposed to be a United forum and Chelski and Loserpool fans arent welcomed here. Funny what brings them here. For a loserpool fan, you should have taken some sleeping pills and hit your bed. For Chelski fans, well, go cherish your 4-0 win against the poor Blackpool side.
The only reason i find for you guys to be here on United forum is that deep inside, you know this United side is (like so many times in the past) kick you in the nutts!
Funny someone above pointed that United arent contenders for the title. I bet you consider Stoke, Blackpool and Westham as the title contenders this season. What the F have you been smoking>?
what complete and utter sh1te.. chelseablue is spot on, those fans going on about what a poor side liverpool are yet are ‘euphoric’ that they managed to beat us by 1 goal at home shows how fickle they are and how little they know about football.
ferguson who has been the saviour of utd has become a laughing stock with his outrageous comments to journalists (the very few ones that he’ll talk to after some dared criticise him or his cheating son)such as ” i thought it was going to be a cricket score, at least ten” from a side that had 5 shots on target scoring 3 of those and 7 off it opposed to liverpools 2 on and 6 off target, by his maths the game should have finished 10-8. i wont even go into the torres is a cheat, while nani is rolling around the pitch thinking he is the new tom daley.
i will admit now that our football is dire and we’ll be lucky to finish top 6 but i will put money that utd will not finish in the top 3 as the current side are the worst utd side for over 20 years, similar to the one that had utd fans holding up banners of “Three years of excuses and it’s still crap. Ta ra Fergie.” but many “fans” wont remember before the glory years when fergies first 4 seasons utd finished about 10th or 11th each year, doesn’t make rafa’s 2 champions league finals in first 3 years seem so bad now does it? seeing it took fergie 22 years.
united will be spanked very soon and all the stupid quotes fergie comes out with wont be able to paper over the cracks that utd current side are rubbish, and those “fans” who have called berbatov their hero of the hour will go back to calling him berbaw**k like they have done for the last 2 years.
that is my rant over and i will step down off my soap box.
YNWA
My God, these comments are embarrassing, the level of hypocrisy, ignorance and contradiction here is unbelievable. Children, please stop.
I certainly don’t agree with the main point of the article in that Liverpool may be relegation candidates. They have a new manager who’s had to bring in lots of new players who have to settle in, and he’s also having to deal with all those ownership issues in the background as well.
Being at the game on Sunday, Liverpool started to look like a good team when they went 4-4-2. Torres-Gerrard-Cole is a dangerous trio that’s going to be very difficult to deal with.
@ChelseaBlue: If you truly don’t believe that United aren’t a threat, then you’re as arrogant and naive as you are an embarrassing speller. I think that speaks bounds about your intellectual capacity and therefore ability to understand the finer points of the game and appreciate great players like Berbatov.
@ KopThisMate: United may have more debt that Liverpool, but at least we’re a profitable club with a good business model that is run properly. We can afford to service the interest payments on our debt, which is what matters. If we’re broke, how come we can go and spend £30m on class players like Berbatov (which I must note happened before the Ronaldo sale), whereas you have to sell in order to buy?
And then there’s the comment that, “our players are getting older”. Firstly, no they’re not, we have a very youthful squad, I can’t even be bothered reeling off all our good youngsters names because there’s too many. And if a squad is getting older, surely that means it’s getting better (in most cases)? Look at Chelsea, or the great AC Milan, Ajax, Real Madrid, United and Liverpool teams of the past. Wasn’t the average age of the 2006 World Cup winning squad of Italy something like 31?
Now the lot of you, stop getting your opinions from Football Manager and Fifa and actually go and watch some football.
Should say truly don’t believe United are a threat. How ironic.
KopThisMate=Here we are…so many pool fans crying on a man unt blog…sour grapes!!!
i worry for idiots like you…what have you got??…dudes…liverpool are not gonna enter the top 4…man shitty and spurs will take care of you…and look at your team..u’ve got torres who seems so uninterested and bored..u’ve got a slut called joe cole who only joined liverpool coz of the money…stevie g is an exception…then u have got clowns like poulsen, maxi and lucas who are a disgrace to the club…gosh u people were pathetic against city, damn boring against west brom and lucky not to lose against birmingham and then u call your team a better team…ur history was bright…you future is all dark…
ChelseaBlue =bloody blue…your team actually “bought” the club…had abramovic not been your owner u would have been a mediocre team. hitting and breaking players legs is all your team can do…boring history…no respect and 0 judgement power classifies you in to a true blue fan
addock andy=dude…last season when ronaldo and tevez were sold people said that united will not finish in top 4…and well in first 5 games they were poor,,,but guess what…it was only because of their effort that the league title was decided on the last day…and we lost to bayern only on away goals and won the carling cup…broaden your mindset and start looking at things more intelligently…and stop crying…liverpool was poor and united deserved the win
I just love comments like those of KopThisMate who consoles himself with “Your debt is much bigger than ours”. My personal debt is virtually nil when compared to someone like Rupert Murdoch yet I will be more than happy to swap bank accounts with him – huge debts and all. Will any of you?
As for Liverpool facing relegation, please read the last line of the first paragraph which clearly states “But surely, it’s far too early in the season for Anfield fans to be really concerned” Then in the last paragraph, the proviso was made that “should some of their key players remain unsettled they may just have to get used to it.”
I would have thought that even passionate Liverpool fans would see those as fair comments