Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Hansen: United Don't Inspire The Same Fear They Did Last Season

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen believes the Premier League champions Manchester United are not the same proposition minus the attacking threat of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, who left Old Trafford in the summer to join Real Madrid and Manchester City respectively.

Hansen told footballpools.com: “I was very surprised at Manchester United’s performance at Anfield which lacked the quality and the desire that we are all used to.”

“My old club thoroughly deserved to beat the champions on the day which will relieve some of the mounting pressure on manager Rafa Benitez.”

“Whether this will be the catalyst behind a sustained run of form which could signal a title challenge remains to be seen but if Liverpool were to stand any chance of title success they needed to win that game.”

“Fernando Torres is not 100% fit but his importance to the Reds was underlined in the way he took his goal. There are few better strikers in the world, let alone the Premier League and his performance in comparison to United striker Dimitar Berbatov was vastly superior.”

“Manchester United may be just two points off the top of the table but there’s no doubt they are far from firing on all cylinders.”

“They certainly missed the combative Darren Fletcher at Anfield as they lacked a destructive player in the middle of the park to break up Liverpool’s attacks.”

“At the moment, United don’t inspire the same fear they did at times last season with Cristiano Ronaldo in the side and Carlos Tevez waiting in the wings.”

“Wayne Rooney fought hard yesterday but his striker partner Berbatov looked disinterested at times and certainly wasn’t up for a physical battle with Liverpool centre-halves Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger.”

“There’s no doubt the Bulgarian has superb ability but he has yet to show the fighting spirit synonymous with Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson.”

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