Who the fuck needs Gerrard and Torres?
I said before the game that we'd lose if we played like we had been doing, but the game today was like watching a whole new set of players. We played like we should have been doing all season, rather than having a performance which was a pile of arse.
We fucked them everywhere today. Keane, Benayoun and Kuyt were constantly harassing their defence, and it was completely rattling them. Aside from the first five minutes, and the few minutes immediately after our equaliser, they couldn't string two passes together. Every time we lost possession we either won it back straight away or they gifted it back to us. The midfield were challenging for everything, which is how it should be. We got stuck in there, chased the ball down, and we benefited from it.
The midfield was excellent, especially Mascherano. He completely and utterly bossed the game, fighting for every single ball that came close to him. Even made a few storming runs forward after the ball as well. Totally made up for losing his head at Old Trafford last season.
I thought Riera looks quality too, from the display he gave today. First ball that came his way he could've reached it if he'd actually run, but instead he didn't bother chasing it and let the pass go out of play, which I wasn't too eager to see, but after that he picked up his game, and he was completely having off Wes Brown down the left.
Atmosphere inside the ground was good, especially once we equalised, and the protests stayed outside of the 90 minutes, which is how it should be.