United beat Liverpool amid controversial calls

[JonLP24]

Emotional, controversial, nerve-shredding – that sums up the derby between United and Liverpool at Anfield, a match United won 2-1 versus a 10-man Reds side. Brought to you by Maalox, the contest had United supporters squirming in their seats, as the Red Devils put in a poor performance despite having a man advantage for slightly more than half the game. And it was a contest that had Liverpool supporters red with rage due to some dubious referring decisions.

Suffice it to say, there was no lack of talking points in this one. Here are a few that stand out.

1. Reputation matters
In the 58th minute, Jonny Evans made slight contact with Luis Suarez's boot inside the United penalty area, causing the Uruguayan to hit the pitch. But referee Mark Halsey waved play on. About 10 minutes later, Antonio Valencia -- pretty much missing in action with his teammates up to this point -- finally turned on the afterburners, mugging the ball away from Daniel Agger and Glen Johnson. The winger then flew into the penalty area, with Johnson charging after him. Slight contact was made, perhaps a foul, perhaps not, but Halsey awarded the penalty.

The lesson here? Suarez -- who clearly has burnished his reputation for diving since arriving at Anfield -- needs to start proving that he won't go to the ground with the slightest breeze. It's not to excuse the seemingly incongruous decisions by Halsey, but for the benefit of his team, Suarez has some PR work to do.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/666?cc=5901

[Ron Obvious]

1. Why do United get so many penalties?

That was one one of the softest penalties I've ever seen. And the red card? Either send both off, yellow card both, or punish neither, as both were equally guilty. Seems United got all the 50/50 calls even at Anfield.

Shame, as I was really impressed with Liverpool when they were down to 10 and still the better side. Worst start in 110 years (or whatever), and still the fans appear to be behind Rodgers. That's good to see.

You're of course, entirely right about reputations.

Video replays. It's time. And I'm saying that as someone who was opposed to them for years for fear or them being used as opportunities for commercial breaks.