Leighton Baines bonus in gutting defeat

Sep 17 2007 View From The Stands by Mark McKenna, Liverpool Daily Post

Phil Neville in action (158)

THE outcome of this match was so painstakingly in line with the vast majority of our encounters with United. However, the manner of the defeat still offers evidence we are a rapidly improving side.

Gone are the days of us rolling down against United and displaying an inferiority complex. Vidic’s goal came out of the blue and even caught United by surprise.

This was a game between two evenly matched sides, whereby neither deserved to lose and admittedly neither deserved to win. Our Art Garfunkel tribute in goal didn’t have a save of note to make, but sadly we didn’t work van der Sar until we were behind.

From early on in the game, it seemed that Yakubu and AJ had the beating of United’s defence, however we never really took advantage of that and failed to take the game to them enough. For the fourth game in a row, Mikel Arteta was off the boil.

The massive bonus this season has been Leighton Baines solving our long standing left-back problem. A far better player than I gave him credit for, Baines was a constant outlet attacking on the left while keeping One Trick Pony Ronaldo firmly in his rear pocket throughout the game.

It was interesting to see Moyes substitute Phil Neville for the first time since he signed. Although he’s an excellent ambassador for the club, he’s unfortunately becoming something of a liability in centre midfield with his poor distribution. Will Moyes drop his captain or move him to right-back?