Manchester United beat Liverpool – Suarez shakes off Evra, but not the Red Devils

It has always been a rivalry. In football, it is 19 vs 18; Off the field, it is Evra vs Suarez.

The match was well-anticipated by the fans, anti-racism societies, and Luis Suarez. He had wasted no time to ignite the flame in the pre-match handshake, heightening the hatred and temper of the home crowd towards himself.

Evra had surely been distracted. He had his entire mind on Suarez in the opening minute when he clashed with Rio Ferdinand. Perhaps it was Suarez’s initial game plan to loosen Manutd’s concentration.

Kenny Dalglish was not distracted though. He rightly started Suarez ahead of Andy Carroll, even the English target man showed improved mobility and passion in the draw against Tottenham. The Uruguayan international’s speed and agility unsettled United’s defence.

The most notable moment came before half time. Rio Ferdinand, who refused the handshake with Suarez after Evra was ignored completely, clipped Suarez in an open-goal situation. Strong claims for a foul and red card were all around, although replay suggested a red might be too harsh. Suarez could only burst his frustration through furiously kicking the ball away at half time.

After the interval, Rooney reminded everyone that this is after all a football match. A brilliant volley in the box and an elementary mistake by Jay Spearing sent the fans to buoyant mood after Rooney’s quickfire double in 4 minutes. The fans might think the lead should come earlier, when Scholes’ clear header was targeted right at Pepe Reina after a brilliant build up between the 37 years old midfielder and the two strikers.

It could be worse for Liverpool, if Rooney had not converted another good move from Valencia and Scholes, or Evans was not harshly penalised for a clear tackle, which saw the England golden boy fired an excellent long shot to the top corner of the goal, after the whistle blew though.

Two goals were enough to emulsify the consolation goal by Suarez, but Sir Alex would be worried by the inconsistency of the partnership of Evans and Ferdinand. However, the scoreline had surely not reflected the nature of the whole game.

Dalglish had put aside their previous success at Old Trafford. In fact, three of the four goalscorers in the famous 4-1 victory in 2009 have already left. Nobody would blame his counter-attack approach, but leaving Bellamy on the bench is dubious. Manutd fans would have expressed a sigh of relief, should they remembered how Bellamy punished them in the Mancity jersey.

Remember when Gerrard was playing a free role behind Torres in the Benitez era? It was the optimal position for the midfielder to harness his playing attributes, but not as a deep lying defensive midfielder today, only limited to kick off counter attacks. Another eyebrow-raising moment was when the big man Carroll came on for Spearing but only to see the only winger in the Liverpool squad, Downing, to come off. Downing is the type of player that can take on defenders and make a good cross but when you don’t have a clear target man to win balls in the air he practically becomes useless – more or less summarizing his performance tonight.

Dalglish may always be King Kenny to the Liverpool faithful but he is nowhere near the tactician to get the best out of the Kop squad, which is clearly demonstrated in their poor run this season. However Liverpool seems to have the most patient fans and bosses.