Capital One Cup: Manchester United settle scores against Liverpool

Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez celebrates scoring their first goal during the Capital Cup Third Round match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford on September 25, 2013 in Manchester, England. (Getty Images)

Both Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney have pre-emptively explained the recent away defeat by Manchester City by declaring that they don’t care much for the local derby. It is the Liverpool rivalry that is the most important to United; not really because it decides the title, but for the brutally simple reason that it is the match Sir Alex Ferguson cared the most about.

Ferguson, of course, had a well-known, longstanding hatred of Liverpool that is supposed to have begun when Bob Paisley’s Reds hammered Ferguson’s Aberdeen 4-0 in 1980. On the way back, the irascible Scot threatened to fine any player who laughed ten pounds.

In later years, he made it an annual point of reference to defeat Liverpool, no matter what their position. That of course suited the Merseysiders. It showed them respect, even though the league table did not.

Today, there was little to separate the two teams – although it is a relief for David Moyes to have finally defeated a major United rival after three unsuccessful meetings.

It’s hard to say which was the better team – both had long spells of possession and quite a few dangerous moments, but Liverpool lacked a cutting edge.

Team news

If this was a “mere” League Cup encounter, the team sheets did not show it. United named a fairly strong line-up: Rooney, Giggs and the mysteriously absent-of-late Shinji Kagawa all featured at the start. Robin van Persie missed out yet again so, so Javier Hernandez featured in his place, with Nani, Rafael and Phil Jones all gaining added match practice.

Like Moyes, Brendan Rodgers had no intention of losing at Old Trafford, so he named a Premier League line-up. Steven Gerrard, Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez all started, with Mamadou Sakho and Martin Skrtel solving the Reds’ centre-back problem.

Analysis

United started out strongly, with Liverpool threatening on the break. Over time though, Liverpool came to control possession but – typically – could do little with it. United were equally impotent in possession: although they had Rooney, Hernandez and Kagawa on field, and the trio mustered one set-piece goal between them.

There were multiple reasons for this. Firstly, the full-backs have long played a major role for both teams. In the Anfield clash two weeks ago, Glen Johnson and Patrice Evra were hugely important for their side, but neither was present today. This meant that the attacking impetus was down to the usual (central) suspects, all of whom were well catered for by the defence.

Secondly, once United took the lead, they behaved like Liverpool have of late; ie they sat back and attempted to protect the lead rather than go for the kill. While Nani and Rooney had more chances in the first half, it was Suarez-Sturridge who came close to scoring in the Second. Jordan Henderson came the closest hoever, rattling David de Gea’s post late on, but neither side really troubled the opposition goalkeeper, with both Simon Mignolet and De Gea having a good match.