Humiliated!

Manchester United 1 - Liverpool 4
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (pen 23)
Liverpool: Torres (28), Gerrard (pen 43), Aurelio (77), Dossena (90)

Red Card: Vidic (76)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick (Giggs 74), Anderson (Scholes 74), Park (Berbatov 74), Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez

Not going to dwell on the game. I'm sure everyone's watched it and everyone will agree it's a nauseating loss. We didn't just lose, we were utterly and completely humiliated. We conceded 4 goals to our fiercest enemies and Vidic should be facing a 3 match ban for a straight red for hauling Gerrard down in a goal-scoring position. It was a bad day all around.

At the same time, I feel it's a good loss. We've been sleepwalking thru the season so far. We've not found any sort of form or rhythm. Barring a few choice wins against opponents at their weakest (Chelsea) or just weak opponents (West Brom, Fulham), we not been able to really stamp our authority in most of the games we've played. In fact in alot of our games, we've just been plain coasting and getting the results.

Although many will argue that that's what champions do, playing like shit yet etching out a win. Well, today we got exposed in the worst way possible, humiliated beyong recognition.

All along I've been maintaining that Van der Sar is just an average keeper and today with Vidic being thoroughly abused by Torres, we see just how average Van der Sar really is. The cleansheet record has been more a credit to the men in front of him. In most of those games, he's been a spectator.

The defense was awful on Tuesday against Inter. Today they just collapsed. But I'm not going to get down on them today. They have performed miracles for most of the season. It's time for them to step up again. Evans will have to step in for the suspended Vidic, and I have every confidence that they will be up to the challenge ahead.

Midfield is where most of our problems occur IMO. Ferguson hasn't settled on a centre two. I understand resting Scholes due to his age, but fielding Anderson and not Fletcher was a terrible decision. I wonder what in the world Fletcher has done to end up in Fergie's doghouse. He's been our most consistant player for the entire season and he usually performs in big matches. Yet today Fergie benched him and played Anderson. I understand that Anderson is one for the future, but in all honesty, he's still a kid. Today's game needed a man to stand out. As for Carrick, I'm sure everyone who reads my posts know exactly what I think of him, so I'm not going to sound like my mother and leave as it is.

Another one of the biggests problems is that we have no true, traditional wingers. No one can really cross the ball with any accuracy or consistancy since Beckham. Actually it doesn't really matter. We don't really have traditional strikers who can head the ball with any accuracy or consistancy either.

On paper we have a really sweet looking strikerforce. The problem is that no one, including Ferguson, knows which partnership works. The thing we do know is that so far nothing works consistantly. I really like Rooney, Tevez and Berbatov. Rooney and Tevez have the heart and Berbatov has the sublime skills, yet none of them can play with one another. It's frustrating to see so much talent on the pitch not gelling. And since I cannot pinpoint the problem here, I'm just going to put the blame on the midfield.

The result is immaterial. We're still 4 points ahead of Liverpool with a game in hand. The title is still ours to lose. What this means is that Liverpool can hold on to their pathetic hopes for a while longer, and they will expand more energy in league games which could affect them in Europe. I especially luved it when the cameras panned to arses like Gerrard and Torres patting themselves on the backs like they won a cup final. Well, this was their cup final. We are of a different pedegree, we go after records.

Like I said, this is a good loss. We needed this loss badly. Now we will see what this team of ours is made of. Will they rise from the ashes like a phoenix or will they wither and die. I believe a fire has been lit under their arses and they will go all out to prove all detractors wrong. We've been playing far too poorly for far too long. It's time to pull up our socks and play some real football.