Liverpool FC Forum

Saint Red wrote:I'm a Man Utd fan. Liverpool will win IMO. Although Utd have looked good in patches they have looked ordinary in others.

red37 wrote:someones had practice doing their 'lines' as a punishment

though showing your age a bit in that respect lando m8 - what, 1978 they were phased out?......

I got them for pinching Miss Hottie the new English teacher's bottie.

Cool Hand Luke wrote:If Pennant starts on Sunday I’ll slit my throat before kick off.

matrix wrote:Ferguson defuses derby tensions
By Tim Rich
Last Updated: 1:57am BST 21/10/2006

Five flashpoints





In pics: Premiership action
Your View: Football fans' forum


Just before the match that ended his career in English football, the one in which he dropped Alan Shearer against Sunderland, Ruud Gullit made a statement that betrayed his essential lack of understanding of the domestic game. Newcastle v Sunderland could not be counted a proper derby, he said, because the teams came from separate cities.

   
Two worlds collide: Gary Neville and Steven Gerrard
In truth, because they accentuate cultural and economic differences, the most intense football rivalries are between cities. For sheer viciousness it would be hard to beat Barcelona-Madrid, Portsmouth-Southampton, Blackburn-Burnley and Liverpool against Manchester United. The only derby between clubs in a single city that can match these fixtures for spite is the Old Firm affair in Glasgow.

The opposing captains in tomorrow's encounter at Old Trafford, Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville, both said they had been brought up to hate Manchester United and Liverpool, respectively. Neville running half the length of the Old Trafford pitch to celebrate Rio Ferdinand's winner in front of the Liverpool fans who had spent the afternoon baiting him sums up the intensity of the fixture.

Five months later, Ferdinand found himself watching his brother playing for West Ham in the FA Cup final. He was too near the Liverpool fans for comfort and his reward was a shower of coins, which was slightly preferable to the cups of excrement United supporters had tipped over them during their fifth-round defeat at Anfield.

Ever since his Aberdeen side were humiliated in the European Cup by Liverpool more than a quarter of a century ago, Sir Alex Ferguson has nursed a lingering dislike of the club, although his relationship with men such as Gerard Houllier and Rafael Benitez has been considerably warmer. And yesterday the Manchester United manager went out of his way to reduce tensions.

advertisementWriting in his programme notes, Ferguson, who once claimed his greatest achievement was "knocking Liverpool off their perch", made the valid point that the bitterness exists almost exclusively between supporters. "The players have a high respect for each other, a regard that I wish was shared a little more by the supporters of the two clubs," he said. "There is a great rivalry among the fans but we must not let it run out of control."

Ferguson remarked that Benitez's rotation policy was so extreme that he could not begin to guess the side Liverpool would field tomorrow, but Paul Scholes will definitely play and in doing so will make his 500th appearance for Manchester United.

There is a certain irony that someone who has spent his life shunning any trace of flash should be reaching the milestone in a match with so many flashpoints. But it is this very self-effacing quality that Ferguson believes has enabled Scholes to extend his career without compromising his play.

"He is a low-key personality. He values his family life and there are very few in the modern football world that are happy to settle for that," Ferguson said. "We are in an era when people need to be seen but he – and Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs for that matter – is not concerned by profile or attention. It is not something he needs. Their lifestyles make you think they will be OK for a few years, although if you get an injury in your 30s it is never easy – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is proof of that."

While Giggs has subtly altered his game over the years – he said that a fear of hamstring injuries meant it was some seasons since he ran full-pelt at a defence – Scholes' play has essentially remained the same since he marked his debut in 1994 with two goals in a League Cup tie at Port Vale. He began as a centre-forward and the instinct for goal has never left him.

"What he has got, and what you cannot possibly coach, is a marvellous football brain," Ferguson said. "He has had that since he was 14 years of age. He is able to sense the speed of a game, the openings in matches. There has been none better at that."

Five flashpoints

1. Sept 98
A United fan has his throat cut while Liverpool supporters are pelted with missiles during and after United's 2-0 win at Old Trafford.

2. Jan 05
A Liverpool fan is arrested after throwing his easily-traceable mobile phone at Wayne Rooney as the United striker ran over to the Kop to celebrate his winning goal.

3. Jan 06
Gary Neville is charged by the FA after dashing towards Liverpool fans at Old Trafford and expansively celebrating Rio Ferdinand's winner which sparks fighting outside the ground.

4. Feb 06
As Alan Smith is taken to hospital after fracturing his ankle, his ambulance comes under attack from Liverpool fans. Other supporters drop cups of excrement on to United fans.

5. April 06
Liverpool supporters watching their FA Cup semi-final victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford wreck toilets and seats, causing £50,000 worth of damage, reimbursed from Liverpool's share of the gate receipts.

honestly i cant wait for the match...

dilbertsbanana wrote:I know i will be shouted down, and rafa would never do this but....

Could we man mark Rooney?

We could stick momo on him, just annoy the feck out of him, then play stevie and alonso in the middle. Risse on the left, bellamy on the right and crouch up front by himself. This way we have the pace on the wings, we take rooney out of the game and can always get stevie up fron if momo is wasted?
Well at least its thinking outside the box