Liverpool 2-0 Manchester Utd
Dirk Kuyt congratulates goalscorer Fernando Torres as Liverpool got back on track with a 2-0 victory
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By Tom Powell. |  |
Sunday, 25, Oct 2009 07:19
By Sam Ross.
Liverpool outclassed rivals Manchester United to end a run of four consecutive defeats and ease the pressure on under-fire manager Rafael Benitez.
Goals from returning front man Fernando Torres and a late injury time strike from David Ngog saw Liverpool go to fifth in the league while champions United missed the chance to regain top spot.
The game began in fairly open fashion with Liverpool maintaining most of the possession and early chances.
Liverpool's first real chance of the game fell to Torres after Patrice Evra received a yellow card for tripping the Spanish forward. From the resulting free kick Fabio Aurelio curled the ball towards the bottom left corner of Edwin Van der Sar's goal.
The Dutch keeper produced a fine double save, firstly keeping out Aurelio's strike and then reacting well to deny Dirk Kuyt's rebound.
United had a chance of their own when Valencia broke down the right wing on twenty minutes and swung in a cross for Wayne Rooney.
The England forward could only guide his header at Pepe Reina, who made his first contribution to the game.
With 25 minutes played Liverpool looked the more likely to score and with six attempts on goal compared to United's one many were expecting a Liverpool goal.
But United had chances and had a strong shout for a penalty in the 27th minute when Michael Carrick went down in the area.
Stand-in captain Jamie Carragher looked to have brought down the midfielder but was adjudged to have time his tackle perfectly by referee Andre Marriner, in charge for the first time in a match involving teams from the top four.
With the first half coming to an end Liverpool were playing the better of the football but just couldn't produce any real final product with half chances falling to Torres and Kuyt.
The second half began with an immediate increase in tempo from Liverpool and two minutes after the break they nearly went ahead after a route one ball from Reina.
Kuyt flicked the ball onto Yossi Benayoun but a combination of poor control and good defending from Evra denied the Israeli.
As the game entered the last half hour the temperature began to rise as tackles were flying in and an incident involving Reina and Vidic added to the atmosphere inside Anfield.
The deadlock was broken in the 64th minute when Torres latched onto Benayoun's great through ball and out-muscled Rio Ferdinand to smash the ball into the roof of the net past the helpless Van der Sar.
Trailing one nil Sir Alex Ferguson looked to change things around and introduced Nani and former Liverpool forward Michael Owen who received a hostile reception from the Anfield faithful.
The last ten minutes saw United raise their game and produce a flurry of passes but were unable to break down the defensive line of Liverpool with Carragher leading his team superbly.
In the 83rd minute United had one of their best chances of the game when winger Antonio Valencia struck the crossbar.
Giggs played the ball to Owen who controlled the ball and used his strength well to hold off defenders and play in Valencia, whose shot from a tight angle rebounded back off the woodwork.
Another controversial decision involving Carragher occurred in the 86th minute when the Liverpool man hauled down Owen who appeared to be in on goal. Carragher was only shown a yellow card as the referee deemed the opportunity not to have been a goal-scoring chancee.
The resulting free kick from Nani was a disappointing one for United as the ball drifted into the midriff of Reina.
As the game came to its remaining minutes Vidic was sent off for hauling down Kuyt who was free in on goal and the Serbian defender was given a second yellow.
The game then became very scrappy at the close of the five added-on injury time minutes as Javier Mascherano was also given his marching orders for a second bookable offence, having brought down Van der Sar.
As United threw everything they had in an attempt to grab an equaliser Liverpool counter-attacked and scored to round off a great victory.
The Anfield side broke down the right in a three-on-two attack and with Ngog free Lucas squared the ball for the French striker to roll into the bottom left corner.