Liverpool (22-03-2015)

Liverpool 1 – 2 Manchester United (Premiership), Sunday 22nd March 2015.

Train (Sheffield-Liverpool) = £23-10
Ticket = £56
Programme = £3
Bus to Anfield = £4
Hotel £180/2 = £90
Tea = £1-85
Left luggage = £2
Greggs roll = £2
Total = £181-95

I opted to have this Saturday completely off nonleague hopping, in favour of a leisurely train journey to Liverpool ahead of the big derby. I say leisurely - actually we ended up being decanted at Oxford Road, due to an accident further down the line, catching a slightly slower Northern train across to Merseyside. I must admit it was nice to chill out, locate the hotel and wander out for dinner rather than the usual rush.

On the Sunday morning we headed up to the ground at about 12ish, after some breakfast and impromptu shopping (cooker lightbulb!). As an extra sign of preparedness we even bought the programme in the centre!

It was a crisp bright day on Merseyside with a blue sky. The streets around Anfield were already filling up with people crowding outside the pubs and takeaways. We headed straight in to the ground - block MS in the main stand, where we were one row from the back. It was a decent seat as anywhere further down and we would be eyeballing the rather unpleasant United fans in the Anfield Road end!

In the first half Liverpool were poor, and United clearly had a game plan. The home side had a couple of decent 5 minute spells, including a fine move culminating in a shot just wide from Lallana, and a wild volley from Sturridge. Coutinho looked to be their best player, surging through midfield and showing great strength on the ball. Apart from that United looked the better side, with a highly disciplined shape and organisation. They barely allowed Liverpool any time on the ball and frequently forced dangerous back passes and errors. Joe Allen, sitting in front of the defence, looked extremely fragile in possession. It was no real surprise that United went in 1-0 up, with a superb ball from Herrera slipping Mata through for a low finish at the Kop end. I should add that at half-time, the great Pele was out on the pitch, not quite what I had expected on a day like this – a nice surprise nonetheless!

I still felt optimistic that Liverpool could get back into this match. On came Gerrard for the second half and it seemed the cavalry had arrived. Then, barely a minute in to the second period, Gerrard stamped on Herrera and was rightly sent off. I couldn't see the incident fully so credit to the referee for spotting it. For a 15 minute spell Liverpool looked all at sea, and conceded a second when Di Maria's dinked pass set up Mata for a wonderfully acrobatic volley, reminiscent of Di Canio many years ago. That sparked the home side into life, and they began to attack with greater tenacity, resulting in Sturridge pulling 1 back just before 70 minutes. After that United shut up shop and I can't recall that many clear chances for Liverpool. There was at times a lack of imagination and pace from them, with Sterling looking particularly out of sorts. Then at the other end, United contrived to miss a penalty through Rooney after a player tumbled in the box. This result was a body blow in the race for UCL football next year, and it may consign Liverpool to more Europa League football in 2015-16.