Luis Suarez and Jon Flanagan won penalties either side of a controversial Guy Demel equalizer to keep the pressure on Manchester City and Chelsea in the title race.
Steven Gerrard twice held his nerve from the penalty spot to keep Liverpool's title bid on course with a battling 2-1 win at West Ham.
Referee Anthony Taylor found himself at the center of the action at Upton Park from the moment he penalized James Tomkins for handball late in the first half, allowing Gerrard to notch his first goal two minutes before the break.
But West Ham went into the locker room level through Guy Demel's first goal for the club, which came after Simon Mignolet had dropped a corner under pressure of highly questionable legality from ex-Liverpool striker Andy Carroll. Amid understandable protests from the visitors, referee Taylor signalled for the goal, and he did so again following lengthy consultation with his assistant.
Carroll headed against the crossbar after the hour before West Ham's Adrian became the second goalkeeper to fall foul of Taylor, who adjudged him to have impeded Jon Flanagan for Gerrard's second penalty in the 71st minute.
Luis Suarez curled a first-time effort against the frame of the goal late, but Liverpool had already done enough to maintain their quest for the Premier League crown.
Brendan Rodgers' side returns to the top of the table, two points above Chelsea and four ahead of Manchester City - who have played two games less and head to Anfield for what looks set to be a season-defining encounter in seven days' time.
Napoli loanee Pablo Armero made his full debut for West Ham after left back George McCartney suffered a hamstring strain in Monday's 2-1 win at Sunderland.
A knee injury suffered in training by Daniel Agger meant a change for Liverpool at center back - Mamadou Sakho starting for the first time since they last lost in the league, at Chelsea on December 29.
Suarez had been the central figure in the subsequent 11 wins and two league draws, and the forward glanced the top of the netting with an early free kick but couldn't score in the contest, being denied late by both the crossbar and Adrian, as Liverpool closed out the kind of gritty win upon which title triumphs are often built.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Sir Alex has no say on Moyes's Manchester United future
Despite an encouraging midweek draw against Bayern Munich, Moyes remains far from secure in his role and even senior figures at the club have no idea whether the Glazer family will keep the Scot as manager beyond the end of the season.
Sir Alex Ferguson will have no say in Moyes' future, despite hand-picking his replacement last summer, while executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward will also have little influence on the final decision of United’s American owners.
The former manager and Woodward are both understood to believe that Moyes deserves to be backed by the club having signed a six-year contract when he joined from Everton last year - but both are in the dark as to the Glazers' intentions.
Goal revealed last week that the United board are 'evaluating possibilities' regarding a potential successor for Moyes in the summer.
But the decision will rest solely with the Glazers, who have given no indication of their thoughts on the matter even to the likes of Sir Alex and Woodward - although it is understood they are deeply unhappy with results this season.
The Glazers are ready to spend around £150 million in the summer transfer window to improve the squad - but there are significant questions over whether they will trust Moyes with the money.
Moyes spent £27.5m on Marouane Fellaini, who has been a huge disappointment, while he is yet to get the best out of club-record signing Juan Mata over a prolonged period of time.
There are also concerns with the poor playing style, while Moyes has never won a major trophy during his managerial career.
Manchester United vs Bayern Munich Champions League semi-finals.
There is a sense of pain and embarrassment at Manchester Unitedwhich may just be their biggest weapon in trying to overcome Bayern Munich and reach the Champions League semi-finals.
“Of course it hurts,” defender Phil Jones said, as he reflected on the criticism, the defeats and the ridicule heaped on the club and David Moyes this season.
“It’s our job,” Jones said. “When you go into training on the back of a defeat it’s horrible. The place is... you don’t want to go into training the next day.
"But you have to pick yourself up and we’ve had to do that too many times this season. But hopefully we can keep our run going in the Champions League.”
The competition has the capacity for salvation, as Chelsea found in 2012, and United have given themselves a puncher’s chance in Munich with the 1-1 draw in the quarter-final first leg last week, a result built on team shape, determination, spirit and the cute tactic of exploiting the pace and athleticism of Danny Welbeck.
There were a few more subtle tactical tweaks as well – such as allowing the Bayern right-back Rafinha as much possession as he wanted, as his distribution is a relative weakness – but essentially Moyes fell back on an approach that had served him well during his 11 years at Everton.
Jones admitted that the team were set up to hit Bayern “on the counter-attack” and there was little concern that they claimed only 30 per cent of possession in a home tie.
Moyes said: “You can look at some Champions League games recently where teams have sat back and then got something, so I don’t think there’s any shame in what we did. Tactically, we played very well on the night.”
That policy of containment is not enough for United in the long term. But in the short term, when drawn against the European champions and a team widely regarded as the best on the continent, with the best coach in Pep Guardiola, it is acceptable – certainly if United make the last four.
“We’ve definitely got a chance,” Jones said. “They had a lot of possession but they probably did not create as many chances as they have done in other games.
"Defensively we were reasonably sound, albeit they scored a goal. We studied Bayern and what their weaknesses are and hopefully we can exploit them again.
"You can see that on the counter-attack we can be dangerous even though it will be a completely different game in Munich.”
Moyes suggested that he may “have to think differently” in the second leg, but it would be a surprise if the game had a radically different template.
Moyes had identified Bayern’s vulnerability to pace – he even referenced how Theo Walcott was missed by Arsenal – and the fact that Guardiola demands his team to squeeze up incredibly high.
United lack stellar speed, but Welbeck is one of the few exceptions. He also has a physical presence that can harry defenders through the centre while being astute enough to pull wide to make them make a decision: do they pass him on or track him?
United added to this with Wayne Rooney’s prodigious work-rate. He dropped deeper and covered more ground, and also pushed up to press and support Welbeck. Moyes will be desperate for him to have recovered from his toe injury by Tuesday.
Further reason for hope came on Satursday when Bayern’s 53-game unbeaten run ended with a 1-0 league defeat at Augsburg.
There is another factor that might just sow a seed of doubt in Bayern’s minds and help United: they have failed to win any of their last four games against English clubs in the Allianz Arena.
They lost to Manchester City and Arsenal in 2013, plus Chelsea’s penalty shoot-out win and Arsenal’s draw last month.
Nemanja Vidic, United’s captain and scorer in the first leg, laid out what he expects. “It will be the same, they will have a lot of possession as that is the name of their game – to wait for someone to make a mistake or leave the space for them,” he said.
United need to score. But they do not need to win. A 1-1 scoring draw takes them to extra-time and then penalties; a 2-2 draw takes them through on away goals.
In the last round Jose Mourinho claimed that going into the home leg with a 1-1 draw, as Chelsea did against Galatasaray, was a dangerous scenario.
The theory is that if the tie goes to extra-time, the away team has the advantage. One goal from them and the home side has to score twice.
No one quite believes that although the statistics, marginally, show that over the past five years 53 per cent of teams who emerged from the first leg at home with a 1-1 draw have progressed – something United know only too well.
They were eliminated by Real Madrid having left the Bernabéu with that scoreline last season. So much has changed since then for United and they are, rightly, the outsiders.
But they do have that puncher’s chance.
Manchester City close to signing Porto pair Eliaquim Mangala and Fernando for £41m
Manchester City plan to strengthen centre of defence with Eliaquim Mangala and Fernando when Joleon Lescott and Martin Demichelis exit
City are closing in on deals to sign Porto pair Eliaquim Mangala and Fernando for a combined fee of £41 million.
City, who maintained their Premier Leaguetitle challenge yesterday with a 4-1 win over Southampton, attempted to acquire both players at the end of the January transfer window but the deals could not be completed in time. However, City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain, is understood to have continued the negotiations.
The deal to sign Mangala, a rangy 23-year-old central defender who is a France international, is the most progressed, with sources in Portugal claiming yesterday that the fee could be as high as £29 million.
With Joleon Lescott out of contract and leaving this summer, and Martin Demichelis, at 33, signed as a stop-gap, City are keen to strengthen the centre of defence to provide competition for Matija Nastasic as a regular partner to captain Vincent Kompany.
Mangala has been strongly linked to Chelsea in the past but their acquisition of Kurt Zouma for £12.5 million on January deadline day, before loaning him back to St Etienne, was an acknowledgement that they were looking elsewhere.
Fernando’s agent has hinted that the holding midfielder could join City, after a move for him also stalled in January, and the player is expected to command a fee of around £12.4 million.
The 26-year-old signed a new contract at Porto in February, with his previous deal running out at the end of this season, but that appeared only to be a measure to preserve his transfer value. There were also suggestions that Fernando, a Brazilian who is a naturalised Portuguese, was told he would be frozen out of the first team if he did not sign.
Fernando’s deal ties him to Porto until 2017 with a buy-out clause thought to be £25 million but the likelihood is that he will be sold for significantly less. If he does arrive at City it will raise questions over the futures of Jack Rodwell, who is expected to return to Everton, and Javi Garcia.
City’s win over Southampton was aided by a serious mistake by assistant referee Michael McDonough, which allowed Samir Nasri to give them a 2-1 lead.
West Ham United striker Andy Carroll says he never 'got a chance' at Anfield
Andy Carroll has claimed he never “really got a chance” at Liverpoolfollowing his £35 million move in January 2011.
In his first major newspaper interview, the 25-year-old striker, who will line up for West Ham United on Sunday against his former club, also toldThe Sunday Telegraph that he joined a divided dressing room at Anfield, making his time there more difficult.
“I just feel that when I did go I never really got a chance,” he said. “I came out of a dressing room at Newcastle where everyone was close, everyone, like here at West Ham, and then to go into that dressing room, at that time, when it was the opposite.
“I was disappointed with the way it [his Liverpool career] went, but I don’t feel I was given a real go at it. I was in one game, out three games, back in for one, so it was stop-start constantly and I never really got going.
“Obviously I never really knew my place when Kenny Dalglish got sacked and coming back, I thought I’d had a good season, I ended the season with a few goals and was told by [Dalglish’s successor] Brendan Rodgers that me and Luis Suárez could be the partnership up front. And then I was told: 'Ah, you’d better leave’ so I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.”
Much has changed at Liverpool since Carroll left, initially on a season-long loan. The forward admits he hopes Rodgers’ side go on to win thePremier League, but has warned them to expect a tough task trying to contain him in the game at Upton Park on Sunday.
“I think they should be worried. I’m looking forward to it. Looking forward to that whistle going. On the form that they are I can’t wait to try and get a result against them.”
Carroll said he still hoped to win a place in England’s World Cup squad. “I’ve not put it out of my head,” he said. “That’s what I am aiming for. I need to carry on doing what I am doing and put myself about and show what I can do: score goals and create chances and hopefully fingers crossed the England manager sees that.”
Hodgson’s striking options might have shrunk on Saturday whenSouthampton striker Jay Rodriguez left the field on a stretcher after sustaining a serious-looking knee injury in a heavy fall in his side’s 4-1 defeat at Manchester City.
Rodriguez required lengthy treatment on the pitch and Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino said: “It is not looking good.”
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