Sunday, 13th January, 2013
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed his side for their 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford earlier today, though he did admit that the goal they conceded was "soft" and some of the defending was "desperate".
Ferguson’s men bossed the first half and took the lead through Robin van Persie in the 19th minute. The Red Devils went in 1-0 ahead at the break, but in truth their superiority was such that the advantage should really have been much greater.
Manchester United did grab a second though, when Nemanja Vidic deflected a Patrice Evra header home in the 54th minute, however when Liverpool quickly answered that, Daniel Sturridge firing home following a parried shot by goalkeeper David de Gea, it was game on.
Liverpool pushed and put Manchester United’s defence under real pressure, with Sturridge guilty of missing one open goal, firing over the bar without testing De Gea, and then firing into the side-netting with Luis Suarez free in the box.
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With a little more urgency and intelligence the Reds could have grabbed an equaliser and Ferguson was happy to see his men avoid conceding it, though he did point to the first goal Liverpool scored as a soft one to let him.
"I’ve not seen their goal again", Ferguson told MUTV.
"But, to me, it looked a bit soft for us. Once again, the goalie has parried one out and there’s nobody following in on the rebound.
"It did lift Liverpool but some of our defending was a bit erratic and desperate at times. But we managed to get through it.
"There was a period of three or four minutes where they were shoving players into the box and some interchange between players that we had to defend very well.
"We got through that and the name of the game in the big matches are the moments where you have to defend. Today was one of them."
The result means Manchester United maintain their seven-point advantage over second-placed Manchester City, while Liverpool have still not beaten a side sitting above them in the Premier League table – the Reds are currently eighth.
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