Tag Archives: manchester united

Liverpool, Manchester United & Luis Suarez

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It’s no secret that Manchester United are one of the most disliked teams in the English Premier League.  You can dislike them because of their success, because of their legions of far flung fans who will never get to see them live but buy into the ‘dream’ or perhaps because of the perceived arrogance of the players and manager.

For some of us lower league supporters though, the reason is a little different.  Manchester United is the embodiment of the ruthless business ethic that took hold of the Premier League in the early 1990s;  before the Glazers took over it was the PLC which used its reach and influence to hoover up the spare fans and pounds from every provincial town in the country and by extension help many of those town’s clubs on their way to significant financial difficulties.  That those smaller teams managed to survive owes nothing to any ‘trickle down’ wealth from the Premier League but everything to local supporters and communities and occasionally a charitable benefactor.

My point is that there are very good reasons why we still want Manchester United to lose when we watch them play but on Saturday lunchtime, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez somehow managed to make us forget all that and back United against possibly their biggest rival.

What happened all dates back to the well-reported racism incident between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra which led to an eight match ban for Suarez and a general recognition that he was in the wrong.  Saturday’s match was the first meeting between the two players since the incident and all Suarez had to do was shake hands with the man he abused in the pre-match line up.  Evra offered up his hand and Suarez ignored him, instantly re-igniting the whole unsavoury business.  The guilty party had failed to shake hands with the victim and that is why, in that moment, we suddenly didn’t mind if Manchester United won the match.

Far, far too late on Sunday, Suarez apologised to everyone involved (apart from Evra) after Liverpool’s owners apparently realised the negative effect on Liverpool FC was getting out of control.  Manager Kenny Dalglish, who has so far rather unwisely stood by Suarez, was also asked to apologise after berating a Sky Sports journalist who asked him about the missing handshake.  Dalglish said he never saw it.

This whole sorry saga should never have reached the point where Liverpool’s owners had to step in to advise their employees to do the right thing and it remains to be seen whether the apology will draw a line under the affair.

 

City vs United – More Goals, More Controversy

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It’s a odd situation when the losing side in a football match emerges after 90 minutes looking like the winner.  Manchester City managed just that yesterday when they played their cross-city rivals Manchester United in easily the most highly anticipated match played over the weekend.

The scene was set for this match back in October when City traveled to Old Trafford and inflicted what Alex Ferguson called “our worst ever day – the worst result in my history, ever.”  A 6 – 1 defeat was a bad one all right and Ferguson will have had revenge in his mind before yesterday’s match.  City are also top of the Premier League with a genuine shot at the title and the match was on terrestrial television on Sunday lunchtime, meaning a far larger audience than the normal Sky subscription viewers could provide.

Kompany gets sent off

Kompany gets his marching orders

City stormed out of the blocks at the Etihad Stadium but conceded a breakaway goal after ten minutes; this preceded the main incident of the afternoon – the sending off of City captain Vincent Kompany for what only the most one-eyed United supporter would deny was a good tackle.  If there is such a thing as a perfect two-footed tackle then this was it but the referee, Chris Foy, had other ideas and made sure City played the final 80 minutes without one of their most influential players.  Wayne Rooney once again did himself no favours – his desperate attempts to persuade the referee to send Kompany off was almost as bad as waving the imaginary yellow card.

City were 3 – 0 down by half-time and Ferguson must have been anticipating a reversal of the 6 – 1 thrashing that they themselves suffered; that’s not how the script went however.  Ten-man Manchester City fought their way back into the match, scoring two goals by mid-way through the second half and dominating the second half as much as is possible for a team missing one player.

A clear penalty for both sides was ignored by the referee and in the end City couldn’t quite manage it but the home fans cheers for their team at the final whistle drowned out the relieved noises emanating from the United fans on the final whistle.

Paul Scholes

Paul Scholes

An interesting byline to the match on Sunday was the return from retirement of Paul Scholes.  Having packed in playing at the end of last season, United are clearly lacking enough in midfield for Ferguson to persuade him to make a return.  He’s still fit but clearly lacked the edge which comes with playing in matches every week and perhaps this wasn’t the occasion to bring him on;  one of his poor touches led to Manchester City’s second goal.  Having said that, he made the simple midfield passes which brought some stability back to the United team when they began to get rattled and managed a couple of solid shots from the edge of the area.

If yesterday’s match wasn’t a tough enough test for United, they will now face Liverpool at Anfield in the next round, a match which comes hard on the heels of Luis Suarez eight match ban for racism against United’s Patrice Evra.  Interesting times……..

Luis Suarez – The Full Picture

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In the last post we wrote about how Liverpool’s Luis Suarez had been handed an eight match ban by the English FA for racist comments made to Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.  While most thought Suarez would be found guilty many, including us, wondered about the severity of the punishment.  Eight games is a long time in a busy footballing period and it wasn’t particularly clear whether Suarez’ intent was malicious or naive.

Patrice Evra - Luis Suarez

Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez

However, following the release of the FA’s comprehensive report on the incident on New Year’s Eve (why?), it has become pretty clear why the FA has handed down this punishment.  Evidence given by Suarez and Evra conflicted somewhat but in the end it was clear enough that Evra’s testimony was the more reliable.  According to the report the incident on the pitch went as follows:

Evra (after being kicked): Why did you kick me?

Suarez: Because you are black.

Evra: Say that to me again.  I’m going to punch you.

Suarez: I don’t speak to blacks.

Evra: I’m going to punch you.

Suarez: OK, blackie, blackie, blackie.

Suarez then gestures at Evra’s skin

Evra: Ref, ref, he just called me a fucking black.

After the match Evra told his manager, Alex Ferguson, what had happened and Ferguson followed exactly the correct procedures by heading straight to the referees room to report the incident.  The FA then took control of the investigation, resulting in a pretty comprehensive report and the eight match ban.

Suarez’ explanation of his use of the word ‘negrita’ (blackie) as a friendly term was completely undermined by the tone of the player’s conversation and the intensity of any match between Manchester United and Liverpool.  One would hope that Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish will now back down in this matter and stop insisting on Suarez innocence.  For his part, Suarez has said he will not be using that word again, at least in this country.