Liverpool v United: Player ratings

March 03, 2007

Van der Sar: Superb save from Crouch late on and until then he'd had little to do 7

Neville: Liverpool had no great fortune down his flank 6

Evra: A disappointing throwback to his early Reds days. Looked uneasy 5

Ferdinand: United's steadiest defender and the Reds needed him to be in top form 8

Vidic: Wasn't at his uncompromising best again and needed his sidekick Ferdinand in form 5

Ronaldo: Had only occasional flashes to disconcert Liverpool but didn't see ball enough 6

Carrick: Wasn't a loser in midfield battle but wasn't a winner either 5

Scholes: Never found the ball to release United's frustrated forwards and sent off 6

Giggs: This one won't be in Giggs top 100 of 700 performances 5

Larsson: If this was his last Premiership match not a great display to bow out on 5

Rooney: Never really saw the ball in areas where he could make much of an impression 5

Subs:

Silvestre (sub Evra 63) Improved left flank 6

Saha (sub Larsson 67): Livened up attack 6

O'Shea (sub Rooney 73) Super sub! 6

Brown, Kuszczak not used

Liverpool: Reina, Finnan, Agger, Riise, Gerrard, Gonzalez (Aurelio 61), Alonso, Bellamy (Pennant 69), Kuyt, Sissoko (Crouch 79), Carragher

Goals:
Liverpool:
United: O'Shea (90)

Bookings:
Liverpool: Alonso (41)
United: Carrick (43), Neville (81)

Sent off: Scholes for United (87)

Referee: M Atkinson On top of game 6

Attendance: 44,403

Agree with the ratings? Have your say.

| Submit Comments | Comments (34) |

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Alias Smith, over the moon (03/03/2007 at 16:04)

Liverpool clearly had a plan to pick on the right side of our defence - and it looked creaky! Vidic was very sloppy in the first half (often trying to be clever instead of finding Row Z) and Evra's lack of height was exploited. Thankfully, Vidic looked better in the second half. Larsson was again disappointing and we looked a lot better when Saha came on - because he gave us an "out". In the second half, Liverpool had three very strong midfielders in Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko and while I thought our two did OK against them, we probably could have done with a third man (Hargreaves?) in there. Obviously that means 451. MOM was obviously JOS!!

Sean, NYXMC (03/03/2007 at 16:18)

A bit harsh on Carrick, yet again, (6) and Giggs (6, maybe 7 for his 700th) and a tad generous to Henrik (4) who may as well have not been on the pitch - in the second half especially. Saha should start against Lille, even if Rooney is fit. Ferdinand deserves a 9, and O'shea should be given an honorary 10.

bobbydazzler (03/03/2007 at 17:26)

think your markrs are very generous to carrick and larsson

john murray (03/03/2007 at 18:27)

completing a smash and grab at anfield makes the result all the more sweet, and makes up 4 the stone wall peno that we never got but then having said that no away team gets a penalty at the kop end which the media happly chooses 2 ignore.

de Meester, netherlands (03/03/2007 at 19:04)

Fair assessments.
In the end a good team performance, the shirts hels their shape most of the time.
This is no way comparable to Reading1!
The scousers were the better side though!
You Beauties United!

karma2007, rochdale,greater manchester (03/03/2007 at 19:25)

my motm was definatly vds and ill argue with any body on that score,if it wasnt for him wed have lost.
Top man 10/10

Mike Rose (03/03/2007 at 19:30)

Is anyone else as frustrated as me with Rooney's failure to deliver in the big game?
Is it because Fergie plays him out of position or is he just overated?

Absolutely loving the result over the Vermin though.

Manc (03/03/2007 at 20:11)

Once again Ronaldo failed to produce in a big game, he does ok against the small teams. Rio and VDS were excellent and deserve praise.

SIMON., DERRY, N. IRELAND. (03/03/2007 at 20:57)

Larsson and Rooney both have been very poor of late and I feel sorry for Saha as he has played well when he finally gets the chance to come on. The match had "Smash and Grab" all over it and when we didn't get that Penalty I thought we'd never score but there you go eh!!! Great Result against those tramps too. Support the Team and Live the Dream.....

COLIN, CANADA, Canada (03/03/2007 at 23:36)

Alias, did todays match show us why we are letting Larsson go home? Saha should have started as he will against Lille. He just has more bite to his game than Larsson and plays better with Roo. Really disappointed with Scholes. VDS man of the match and well done JOS. I couldn't figure our Fergie's game plan so off to watch it again.

Red Lou, Malta (04/03/2007 at 08:05)

IMHO Larsson deserves nothing more than a 3, and that only for playing his last league game for Man United. Despite all the hype surrounding his loan spell - none of which was ever related to his PRESENT footballing abilities - he just confirmed that he's now nothing more than a 35-year-old ex-super striker. Unfortunately it also confirms SAF's lack of foresight last January in not getting an adequate, younger, longer-term striker on loan to sub Rooney or Saha whenever needed. Hope this vulnerability will not cost us the league this season.

chris, oxford (04/03/2007 at 13:12)

A bit generous for Carrick, Larsson, Vidic & Evra IMO, Rio was majestic at times and showed what a great player he is - if only he could put performances in like that consistently! VDS did well with that top save from Crouch.

chris, oxford (04/03/2007 at 13:34)

BTW - I can see the logic in starting Larsson over Saha because Larsson is only here a few more games so he might as well play which will keep (the injury prone which I'm sure Fergie realises) Saha fresh and above all fit for the title run in.

terry (04/03/2007 at 13:44)

VDS No 1 8; GN 8; RF 8; NV 5; PE 5; CR 6; MC 6; PS 5 (stupid boy); RG 6; WR 5; HL 4; JOS 7; MS 6. You lucky boys. Championship form and as previous, the defence will now win us the title.

Loyal to the End (31 years, City Fans, 31 years), Nottingham, ex-Malaysia (04/03/2007 at 13:57)

Van der Sar did nothing till the Peter Crouch shot? I seem to remember a really good save from a Bellamy shot and a save from a Mark Gonzalez belter.. Also came out a few times to intercept crosses and unlike the Lille goalkeeper, actually handles them.. MOM for me, though Rio does have a shout..

Steve, Glossop (04/03/2007 at 14:37)

Pretty accurate though may have given Carrick a 6. I thought if they'd have had a good striker instead of the annoying Quassimodo & Lurch we'd have lost but who cares. Clearly we need quality signings in the summer & I hope those are being lined up now.

Anthony, Hamilton,Ontario,Canada (04/03/2007 at 17:08)

The ratings mean nothing in a win like this. The only knock is that they gave the ball to liverpool too easily at times. But the defence and goalkeeping was solid. And I agree, Saha should have started. But the team,in general, have got to improve in future matches. There's no easy games in the EPL or the FA cup or the European Champions cup.

Alias Smith, over the moon (04/03/2007 at 18:52)

Colin, I think it would be nice to have Larsson as back-up for the rest of the season but it is definitely time to restore Saha to first-choice partner for Rooney. The movement, pace, touch and power of a flying Saha gives us more options than Larsson does IMO.

Gerry, Glastonbury (04/03/2007 at 20:05)

The performance as a 'United ' performance was very disappointing and that's getting a too regular comment over the last few weeks? The result of course was fantastic but I hope that's not kidding too many fans as we are in fact in a bit of a dip form wise.
The performance was battling and defensively OK. Whilst the Pool put us under continuous pressure we managed to repell them, VDS was excellent, so was Rio and let's not forget the usual commited display from Gary. Vidic's form has taken a bit of a dive as we have struggled over the last 3 or 4 games. Scholes looked good as usual in midfield but Carrick seemed off the pace and onominous.
Larsson's game has faded badly over the last few games and for some reason we just can't seem to get the best from Rooney at present.
Saha looked as fresh as a daisy and must now be first on the team sheet. Ronnie failed to fully sparkle but it was typical of him that he set up the goal with that wicked free kick.

Pepe (04/03/2007 at 21:01)

Carrick =4 ; were are his killer passes. Credit to Saha for making some confusion to Reina in the free kick. Did you notice that alonso send Scholes to the dressing room BUT he also fouled Giggs and we scored .That's justice.

Balders, Halifax (05/03/2007 at 09:07)

marks are fair. Where are all the rio 'knockers' now? You only come out when he makes one mistake. He and VdS held the whole team together. Scholes was class first 20 mins but then got over run but as i said on Friday, when he lines up this way, SAHA has to strt. He's th only player we've got who can play (that role)in that system ! Added to that, with his movement etc (see how many men were round him when he got the 'pen'!) he creates more space for Ron & roon ... and so they play better !! It's not rocket science .... our earlier season performances prove it !!

Demo, Glossop (05/03/2007 at 09:51)

Ratings pretty fair suddenly JOS becomes everyones favourite player. Im happy to keep him another season just for puttin one over the bin dippers! :) Thought rio and vds were awesome rio is my MOM. Im just waiting for rooney to hit form - he just cant get into a decent run of form this season. I think saha should hav started

Mick, Dublin (05/03/2007 at 10:14)

Our defence was a mixture of the sublime (on the right) and ridiculous (on the left). Rio was magnificent and is starting to look like Liverpool's nemesis. VdS also superb. Vidic and Evra both poor. I think Scholesy was the pick of the rest of the team. Apart from one crazy swipe at Alonso, he played brilliantly and deserves a better rating. Nobody else really excelled although Ronnie looked very dangerous for a while in the first-half. Consensus in the press seems to be that we played very badly and didn't deserve the result. But I actually think this was a far better performance than against Fulham, Lille or Reading. Vidic and Evra aside, everyone stepped up a gear and, despite Liverpool playing out of their skins, we more or less matched them for 90 minutes. If we play as well as that against Lille we will hammer them, mark my words.

Joe, Malta (05/03/2007 at 11:06)

As someone over here said, ratings do not matter much in such games . Also, Steve Glossop could you postpone your anti-Carrick crusade till the end of the season please? It s true that we paid 14-18m for him, but very few players set OT alight in their first season. (But I did like your Lurch and Quasimodo analogy!)

Duncan, London (05/03/2007 at 11:24)

I agree with the ratings - I have to say. You can knock Larsson but he was largely isolated. Saha would have been a better option as he is more mobile expecially with Liverpool playing high up the pitch as they did in the second half. Absolute stonewall Man of the Match was Rio who was absolutely outstanding, although Van der Sar made a couple of outstanding saves and was clearly our second best player. Gazza did well but devastated about Scholesies actions. Rooney disappointing. Again.

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