Lucky! That’s the word of the day for Manchester United.
Substitute John O’Shea scored in injury time to snatch all 3 points for the Red Devils, in a match where Liverpool should be the deserving winner. United fans may claim that it’s the persistency that paid off, but probably no one can deny that lady luck was on United’s side at Anfield.
Liverpool had dominated the game from the very beginning, posing series of threats. Steven Gerrard in particular was causing lots of troubles playing on the right flank; while Craig Bellamy had been dangerous as well.
Daniel Agger and Mark Gonzalez both came close with long range effort, and Bellamy saw his beautiful cross just missed by his fellow striker.
United only showed some fluency 10 minutes before half time, but Liverpool’s defence had been playing really well, giving no space to exploit.
The 2nd half was about Liverpool as well. Bellamy had a goal ruled offside (which it clearly was), while Dirk Kuyt and John Arne Riise had their chances to open the score too.
United replaced Henrik Larsson with Louis Saha on 67th minute. It’s the last Premiership game for Larsson; he will be ending his loan spell and going back to Sweden… I believe many United fans are thankful of his service during the short period.
United then saw Wayne Rooney substituted by O’Shea because of an injury caused by Jamie Carragher; with a formation of 4-5-1 and pressure from Liverpool’s attack, many United fans would probably be happy to get away with a draw.
4 minutes before time, United fans became more worried as they were down to 10-men, with Paul Scholes sent off for swinging a hook to Xabi Alonso (which he missed).
The best chance of the match (except the goal) came in the last 10 minutes, with Peter Crouch firing from close range… only a world class save from Edwin Van der Sar managed to deny Liverpool to opening the scoreline.
Then came the crucial moment in injury time… Ryan Giggs won a freekick just outside of the box. Ronaldo stepped up and his shot was bounced off Liverpool goalie Jose Reina, and O’Shea was the first to response and kept his cool to score from close range.
Liverpool couldn’t recover with just a couple of minutes before the final whistle… and Manchester United claimed a crucial and lucky victory.