Premier League 
/ Richard Aikman / 16 October 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Sir Alex Ferguson left out three of his best attacking players at Anfield on Saturday
"United live to fight another day but their defensive approach has conceded an early league advantage to Manchester City and allowed Chelsea to move to within a point of them."
Manchester United started the season well enough but were oddly defensive against Liverpool and seem overly reliant on Wayne Rooney. And unless they improve on the road they won't be defending their title, says Richard Aikman.
The received wisdom has it that Manchester United will be unstoppable this year. Goals have flown in from all angles, Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney have forged an instant partnership and in Phil Jones, United have the new Paolo Maldini.
There is no question that United, who are still favourites at [2.32] to retain the title, will be in contention this season, but unless they address their away form, they will lose out to a Manchester City side who are a genuine force to be reckoned with this year, (even without Carlos Tevez) and well-priced at [3.25 ] to finish ahead of their City rivals. Even Chelsea ([4.4]) are in with a shout, while those who think Liverpool - eight points adrift of the summit - are on the comeback trail after an encouraging display on Saturday can get [32.0] about lifting a first title in 21 years.
On the face of it there was not a lot wrong with Manchester United last season. League winners, FA Cup semi-finalists and UEFA Champions League runners-up, 2010/11 will hardly be remembered as a lean year. Particularly not by season-ticket holders who got to see their side win a staggering 18 league matches at Old Trafford (for the record, they drew the other). However, if there was room for improvement - and unless you are Barcelona then there always is - it was their away form.
Last term United were so average on the road they managed as many away victories as Sunderland, Newcastle, crisis-hit Liverpool and even Blackpool. The reason they got away with it was because of the aforementioned home form, Arsenal's blow-up on the run-in and Chelsea's awful autumn blip which left the Blues with too much to do.
This time around, even at this early stage, United again look vulnerable away from Old Trafford. With the exception of their 5-0 mauling of a dreadful Bolton side, Sir Alex Ferguson's charges have scrambled a 2-1 opening day win at West Brom and barely deserved 1-1 draws at Stoke and Liverpool. But for Peter Crouch and Jordan Henderson's profligacy in those last two encounters, United would be in fourth place at present, rather than second. So far their luck has held.
The frustrating thing for supporters of the champions is that on their day they can be irresistible, but on the road Ferguson sets up his side conservatively. The reason they played so poorly against Liverpool on Saturday was less to do with Steven Gerrard's first 90 minutes in a Liverpool shirt in seven months than it was the influence of another Scouser. Wayne Rooney was conspicuous by his absence at Anfield and Ferguson's decision to leave him on the bench for the north-west derby was a gamble that backfired.
Whether Fergie was saving the England forward for the forthcoming Champions League match against Otelul Galati, which is a must-win match, or whether he was concerned about the player's mental state following revelations of family problems that preceded his recent dismissal for England, only the manager knows. But Rooney is a crucial cog in the United side. Not only has he scored nine league goals so far for his club this season, but the two times United have failed to win this season have been when Rooney was missing from the starting line-up.
It is curious that in a match of such importance, Ferguson decided to leave his best player - as well as Nani and Javier Hermandez - on the bench. In recent years, he has often adopted the approach of playing one up front and packing the midfield away from home - a policy that has particularly seen an upturn in his side's Champions League fortunes. But yesterday, without Rooney, it was clear that United were playing for the draw - and to that end they were successful.
Surely, though, with Liverpool in need of victory to reduce the gap between the two rivals to three points United's attacking prowess would have thrived from a bolder approach. By playing Rooney and Nani they could have created far more problems on the counter-attack. Instead Phil Jones - normally a central defender - was deployed in midfield to assist the break-up play of Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs, with only Park Ji-Sung posing the sporadic threat in the final third.
It is a mark of Liverpool's improvement this season that Ferguson effectively decided not to risk a more open approach and in the end it was Dalglish's bolder outlook that could, and should, have won the match. By deploying both Gerrard and Charlie Adam in midfield the Reds gained the upper hand in the second half with Henderson twice coming close at the death and Martin Skrtel fluffing a sitter.
United live to fight another day but their defensive approach has conceded an early league advantage to Manchester City and allowed Chelsea to move to within a point of them. It is still early days but all of a sudden next weekend's derby at Old Trafford takes on a whole new importance. Perhaps that is the match that Ferguson has been saving Rooney for.
Betfair Ambassador Lee Dixon called Manchester United's trip to Anfield just right as Manchester City just keep on winning......
This should make for a really entertaining game on Sunday afternoon with plenty of goals. Expect Demba Ba to be amongst them, says Lee Dixon....
Arsenal need to start being able to defend again becuase that's the aspect of their game that has badly let them down in recent matches. They should win here though, with Robin van Persie once again being the main threat...
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