Liverpool Vs Manchester United

Good Morning,

Today I am going to blog to you all about the biggest fixture in the Premier League calendar.

Liverpool Vs Manchester United

Let me first start by telling you I am an avid Manchester United fan. I will try my hardest to remain impartial throughout the blog, but i can't promise anything.

So on Sunday the 25th October @14:00 we will have this seasons first clash between the nations 2 most successful clubs. I for one cannot wait.

All the talk this week has been about beach balls, fans losing confidence in the once loved Rafa Benitez and a ramifications of a potential 5th straight defeat. Talk of Benitez getting the sack may seem a little farfetched - but for a team who were favourites to win the league in the summer to now be out of the race by October...fingers must be pointed.

Don't get me wrong, i think Sir Alex has made some horrible signings in the past (Djemba Djemba for example, 'so bad they named him twice'!), but the team has always been winning trophies even with or without the likes of Djemba-Djemba & Kleberson. Rafa Benitez on the other hand has really failed to dominate any competition...especially the one the loyal Liverpool fans covet the most "The Premier League Trophy". Some of Benitez's signings have been exceptional, Torres (Is there a better striker out there?), Pepe Reina (quality stopper) & Glen Johnson (I know, i know a lot of money, but the best RB in the league by a distance). Now let’s look at a few who didn’t quite make the grade, take a deep breath.

• Dossena
• Babel
• Ngog
• Pennant
• Keane
• Morientes
• Sissoko
• Nunez
• Fowler (2nd time round)
• Gonzalez
• Carson
• Voronin
• Lucas

Nearly £70m of rubbish here.

I could go on, but I won’t. But the point i am making is Benitez is terrible in the transfer market. He has spent a fortune, they had their best chance in 15 years of winning the league last year and blew it. If he does get the axe...i think he can have no excuses, crazy American owners or not.

I digress.

The game on Sunday sees 2 rivals currently in very different from. Manchester United back on track following a hiccup against the very impressive Sunderland, and Liverpool who are on a 4 game losing streak...ouch. But as the pundits always tell you, "On Derby day...the form books go out the window". This is definitely true, especially when these 2 teams lock horns. Unfortunately for Man Utd last season we were subjected to 2 convincing defeats by Liverpool, the game at Old Trafford was truly horrible, i will however tip my hat to Liverpool, that day they were brilliant. I will now add though that the most influential player in those 2 games (no not el Nino), will not be playing in Sunday - Xabi Alonso, anybody who didn’t notice his influence before certainly does now. I could talk about Liverpool’s decision to sell him for hours, but that’s for another blog.

So lets do some more player analysis for the fixture. Where are the battles going to be won & lost? are Torres, Gerrard & Johnson going to be fit? Will Rooney, Giggs & Evra be fit? The answer i imagine is likely to be yes to all 6. The head to head i would most like to see is Torres VS Vidic round 2. There can be no doubt who won round 1, but even the most hardened Liverpool fans would admit Vidic was surprisingly atrocious that day. Another clash will also be in the middle of the park, we will expect to see Fletcher (is there a more improved player?) attempt to put the shackles on gerrard, will Mascherano be able to break up the play of Scholes &Giggs? And how will the much maligned Carragher cope with the much improved Dimitar Berbatov?

Lots of exciting battles there to be had. For me, the team who wins this game will be the team who take a chance, the team who throw caution to the wind.....the team we refer to as :

Manchester United.

So much for the impartial view!! :-)