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Arsène Wenger feels Liverpool’s win at Manchester United flattered the Anfield side.The Frenchman believes the 4-1 victory on Saturday has opened up the title race to an extent but Sir Alex Ferguson’s side are still likely to lift the Premier League trophy in May. He attributed the result to Manchester United’s hefty workload since the turn of the year.“There are two things I would like to say about that game,” he said.“Firstly, congratulations to Liverpool for winning with an emphatic score, but I think overall it is a very flattering result."For big spells in the game Manchester United dominated but they made mistakes on the day that usually they don’t make. Some players looked a bit mentally tired.“It opens up the race for the title but I still believe that Manchester United are in a strong position with that game in hand. However they have played many matches since Christmas and it looked to have caught up with them on Saturday.”
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Seen this earlier, Man Utd had spells of possession as expected with them being the home side but they didn't carve out many chances.Interesting article reiterating what Benitez and Gerrard were saying about teams being able to beat Man Utd if they're prepared to take them on.Found it funny how quick Rafa was to give quite a detailed breakdown of his game plan after the game.

You’d have to be delusional to believe that Manchester United will not win the Barclays Premier League. They’ve got the best team, the deepest squad and to fail they would have to slip up a couple more times while Liverpool and Chelsea would have to be perfect from now until the season’s end to win the title. Not likely. Sir Alex Ferguson will demand a response from his team after Saturday’s embarrassment, and he will get it. They won’t slip up and the challengers will not get maximum points.With the lead they have, you could not say United are under genuine pressure — apart from the pressure Ferguson will place on them to do better. He’s not the kind of manager who can shrug off a result such as Saturday’s, even when it was caused by individual mistakes from players who are usually so reliable.Remember, this is a squad with everything: depth, youth and experience. If Ferguson wants to shake things up for the next game, away against Fulham on Saturday, he can bring in wise heads — Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs — or any number of lively youngsters. How many other clubs would be able to cope with the loss of three right backs to injury over the season (Wes Brown, Gary Neville and Rafael Da Silva)? But even allowing that the 4-1 defeat at the weekend was a blip, have United really got enough to win the quintuple? Ferguson’s side will feel they can beat Barcelona if they meet in the Champions League. The Catalan team are many people’s favourites to win it, but they haven’t come up against opponents as tough as United because La Liga is weaker than the Premier League. But could United be confident if they face Liverpool?As for the FA Cup, anything can happen on the day, as last weekend proved. All 11 United starters were well below par. That was an extreme that surely won’t be repeated this season. But it was a reminder that while we should acknowledge United’s strengths and not get carried away by one shock result into thinking that United are going to collapse, they are certainly not perfect. They look a far lesser threat without Dimitar Berbatov and there are weaknesses to exploit. Here are five: The goalkeeper is vulnerableYes, there was that amazing run of clean sheets, but I’m not convinced. The ball is bouncing off Edwin van der Sar more now than it was a few weeks ago. He’s still strong on crosses but it’s worth peppering him with shots, even from distance, and trying to pounce on the rebounds. Ben Foster could be United’s No 1 as early as next season. I’m not a fan of Van Der Sar’s kicking, either — distribution is important for goalkeepers these days and he’s not accurate enough.You can get at Patrice EvraThe left back is brilliant going forward, but defensively he’s much weaker when opponents make him back-pedal and impose themselves physically. Evra might be more uncomfortable playing against Dirk Kuyt than against Lionel Messi. The Barcelona winger is small and quick, like the United left back, but the Liverpool forward poses different problems: he is stronger and better in the air. When opponents whip in the ball from the left wing to the far post and it goes over the centre backs, Evra struggles to clear it.Nemanja Vidic can be turnedThe central defender tries to move in front of opponents to intercept the ball. He can be left for dead if a forward gets between him and the ball and rolls round him as he makes the challenge. Didier Drogba has done this to him a few times when Chelsea have played United. Like many teams, United are also vulnerable at the heart of their defence if a pacy striker can nip in between the centre backs.No top defensive midfield playerWithout the injured Owen Hargreaves, United lack an energetic tackler in the centre of the park, so an athlete with decent speed, such as Steven Gerrard, can break through the midfield, as he did at Old Trafford. Ferguson should have picked Darren Fletcher — the next best thing in the squad to Hargreaves — against Liverpool.The central pairing of Michael Carrick and Anderson didn’t strike the right balance because, against a good team, United need someone with stamina and strength to mop up loose balls, track midfield runners and shield the back four.Their rhythm can be disruptedUnited are so hard to stop when attacks are in full flight because their movement is superb. So opponents should play high up the pitch and aim to rob their forwards early to halt United’s momentum and avoid being pushed back. And press the United defence: Liverpool did, forcing Vidic and Rio Ferdinand to rush their passes. The result was that United played more long balls than normal, bypassing midfield. Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tévez were never likely to win many aerial battles given their lack of height, so Liverpool’s back line could head the ball to safety with ease.
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quick question to man u fans do you get pissed off when you see ronaldo miss all your freekicks in a game then later in that same game prevent someone else taking one just so he can miss again. i remember on sat you getting a freekick quite near goal, giggs getting the ball and pretty much preparing himself to take it and next time i looked ronaldo moves him out the way so he could take it. he's a good freekick taker, when they go in they tend to be good freekicks bar when the keeper just jumps in the air, but that must be annoying the amount of them he skies, hits the wall with it, hits straight at the goalie. its not like you have limited players able to hit a decent freekick.

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United have the best squad in the world no doubt.But in the final third of the pitch, Liverpool have two of the best players in the world.When Torres and Gerrard are on form and playing together it's gonna be hard for anyone to beat them. But over the season they are gonna get injured/lose form... Which is why Yanighted are so far ahead of redscouse in the Premier League.But one on one games red scouse will give anyone a run for their money.

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Evra might be more uncomfortable playing against Dirk Kuyt than against Lionel Messi.
stopped reading after that
:D:D you missed the point then. Not like they were saying Kuyt is better, just saying he is stronger and better in the air, which causes more problems for Evra because those are his weaknesses.
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quick question to man u fans do you get pissed off when you see ronaldo miss all your freekicks in a game then later in that same game prevent someone else taking one just so he can miss again. i remember on sat you getting a freekick quite near goal, giggs getting the ball and pretty much preparing himself to take it and next time i looked ronaldo moves him out the way so he could take it. he's a good freekick taker, when they go in they tend to be good freekicks bar when the keeper just jumps in the air, but that must be annoying the amount of them he skies, hits the wall with it, hits straight at the goalie. its not like you have limited players able to hit a decent freekick.
Quick answer yes.Last year, he focussed more on getting the ball on target with a lot of power n movement which you could almost guarentee that the keeper will spill.Now hes trying to score every time but the frustrating thing is most of them hit the wall. He had one on Sat where he was 30 yards out and hit the wall. Thats unacceptable.
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Evra might be more uncomfortable playing against Dirk Kuyt than against Lionel Messi.
stopped reading after that
I think it was the last game at Anfield, Benitez had blatantly said that Evra was the weak spot because diagonal balls were being played over him a lot.
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anyway u look at that statement its wrongi guarantee u if u ask every proffestional player in the world irregardless of height/ weighttheyd prefer to play againt kuyt than messiplus times when ive seen evra struggle is against small players like lennon

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I've tried to believe Kuyt is sh*t for ages now, but after seeing him repeatedly hold down an first team spot/score in some of the biggest games possible/and be a regular part of a holland team. Something just tells me im wrong. He is frustating, immensly frustrating and one dimensional but not sh*t.

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I would take a right sided midfielder over Kuyt who had more to his game in an attacking sense but I'm sure if it happened there would be times I'd be wanting him to close down his man and apply pressure high up the pitch etcI understand what he brings to the team and how important he is to the way we play so I've learned to live with his flaws.

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quick question to man u fans do you get pissed off when you see ronaldo miss all your freekicks in a game then later in that same game prevent someone else taking one just so he can miss again.
Yes
its not like you have limited players able to hit a decent freekick.
This is the reason why it pisses me off so muchI think the freekicks at side of the area if he doesn't have a good chance to score like the one vs Blackburn he should let guys like Nani, Giggs, Carrick, Tosic, Hargreaves take them to put a cross into the box.Freekicks just outside the area = rotate them between Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Tosic, Fabio, Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney, TevezAnything further out = he can take themAnd speaking of Fabio he scored a hat-trick for the reserves last night(could've got 4 but he missed a pen earlier in the game) and I think he's now joint top scorer with 6 goals this season.
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