Smithy, Get Well Soon!!

85 years is a long time. I dare say not a lot of people live till that age now. So having a record that long is an achievement and also a proud record. Till last Saturday, United had never been beaten by Liverpool in the FA cup for 85 freaking years…..and Crouch’s goal in the 18th minute of the match helped Liverpool to put that record in the history books. A painful and bitter pill for United fans to swallow but with that goal also, we are dumped out of the FA cup and the only realistic chance of winning something this season is the League Cup. It was unimaginable a few years back that United only chance of actually winning a trophy is the so call “Mickey Mouse” Cup.



And to be honest, there is nothing much to shout about the match anyways. Liverpool was the better team in the first half and their dominance in the midfield out shone United. The Liverpool players were fighting for every ball and United were not given a chance to settle on the ball. Almost all 50-50 ball were won by the Liverpool players while United defenders were working hard. It was from the corner resulting from a spectacular save from Van Der Sar that lead to Crouch’s goal. I am still wondering why a 6 feet something player, obviously the tallest player on the field was left on his own for a free header inside the six yard box ……still dumb founded me. I personally do think that if Rio was on the field that day, I doubt that would happen. As I have mentioned before, Brown and Vidic are good defenders but it was so obvious they are not yet a pairing and their positioning dealing with set pieces are a bit suspect and poor. United struggled through the half to even master any attempts on goal and Reina was obviously enjoying a quiet game in goal for Liverpool. Rooney was a disappointment and invisible most of the game while Ronaldo was obviously being closely guarded by the Liverpool defenders after his impressive displays in the last few games. He was the most fouled player on the field.



United played better in the second half by introducing Saha into the game replacing Silvestre who picked up a knock. Saha terrorized the Liverpool defence with his pace but United failed to deliver in the final third of the field. One opportunity came early in the second half from Neville’s cross that got finally put Liverpool steady defence under pressure. After fumbling awkwardly with the ball, Carragher and Reina cleared the ball with Van Nistelrooy lurking for a mistake. After that chance, United were limited to unsuccessful crosses and shot outside the box. Liverpool could have scored another goal to ease their nerves through Crouch who couldn’t capitalize on Van Der Sar and Vidic miscommunication, both letting the responsibility to clear the ball to each other and Crouch poke his long legs between them. Luckily the ball just rolled harmlessly away from the goal. That is another display of poor communication and lack of concentration in the United back line that has been piling up this few weeks.



United was well beaten but what happened a few minutes before the end of the match was horrific. Alan Smith who came in 15 minutes earlier attempted to block a free kick by Riise. He fell awkwardly and lied motionless on the field. The play was stopped when Brown and Van Dee Sar called for the medic staffs and from the reaction shown on their faces, it looked serious. And to be honest, Smithy might not be Keano but he can certainly that a knock. When I saw Ruud walked away from Smithy who was surrounded by all his team mates and also the Liverpool players, it was clear the injury was bad. As Sir Alex put it himself as one of the worst injury he’d seen and also in today’s paper, Smith described it himself….”When I looked down the leg was lying one way and my ankle was pointing to Hong Kong”. Although some section of the crowd was not that sympathetic to the United man but kudos to the one who actually put aside the bad blood between the two close rivals by capping to give support to Smithy. It was a horrific injury and Smithy could be out for a year to recuperate.



A bad week with the lost but it was made worse with the injury suffered by Smithy. All United fans will pray that Smithy will be better and make a speedy recovery on the injury. It is bad to go out of the FA Cup especially to the Scousers but to loose a player with such a horrific injury is worst. All out hearts go to Smithy.


Review :


Hero of The Match : Alan Smith. The pain must be excruciating but he was a brave Red soldier. We hope Smithy will come back better than ever in maybe a year time. And also the scousers who gave Smithy support with their applause.


Zero of the Match : The Scousers who gave Smithy the boos while he was in pain. Fools!!!!!


Moment of the Match: Smithy horrific injuries


Team Performance : Manchester United 6/10

Liverpool 7/10







What If : United won?



1. I will still write about Smithy injuries.

2. It will be another 85 more years before Liverpool can beat us again.

3. It will be a good week towards another Cup final.

4. I will not still be bitter till now.