We were definitely the better team last Sunday in the big match against Liverpool.
In the first half we had a number of chances and deserved our 2-0 lead. The game completely flipped on its head when they got a goal out of nothing and then another goal straight away, and after our experience in the Fulham game and the Everton game we were thinking ‘oh no, not again’.
Justice was done in the end with our third goal. When Liverpool went 2-0 down they did start to play for 15 minutes, but even when they got to 2-2 we got straight back into the game and were the dominant team in the closing stages. It would have been an injustice if we hadn’t won the game.
Every time you concede a goal you can say it is down to poor defending or lack of concentration and you could argue that was the case for both of Liverpool’s goals. But I thought we defended well in general, yet every time we play at the moment we seem to concede two or three goals.
The great thing for us is that we’re scoring goals. That has always been the priority, but we also pride ourselves on not conceding so we will have to work on that.
Dimitar Berbatov got a lot of praise for his hat-trick performance and you can definitely see there has been a change in his mentality. He came back in peak fitness in the summer and got confidence from playing well and scoring goals in pre-season. He looks fantastic at the moment and the player everyone knows he can be.
Berbatov is very strong – it’s impossible to get the ball off him – and his ability is unquestionable. Before this season his goal-scoring record was okay for Manchester United but this year his goal-scoring form is outstanding.
All in all, it was a great result for us and we’ll take a lot of confidence from beating our big rivals in that manner.
Playing away
We now have a big week with Bolton Wanderers away today, then Valencia away and Sunderland away, which are three very difficult games.
After drawing with Rangers in the first Champions League group game at home we have to make sure we get something in Valencia, and because we’re four points off the lead in the league we have to make sure we get some victories on the board and don’t fall any further behind.
Playing Bolton is always difficult; there is big rivalry in Lancashire between Manchester United and Bolton going back to the FA Cup Final in 1958.
Their manager Owen Coyle has kept to the strengths of the players he has there, but they are capable of playing some good football. They played some decent stuff when Sam Allardyce was manager, when they had the likes of Ivan Campo, Gary Speed, Youri Djorkaeff and Jay Jay Okocha – people forget that when they had the ball they always tried to play a bit.
Playing against Valencia in the Mestella stadium is one of the toughest away games you can play in the Champions League. It’s a cauldron of an atmosphere and they’re a good team.
They’ve lost players such as David Villa and David Silva but they have lost other players over the years and remained strong. When players such as Gaizka Mendieta left in the past people said they would be weakened but they’ve always proved to be difficult opponents.
Until we get to 10 points in the group stage every game is vital, but if we manage to win in Valencia it would put us in a very strong position because we would need to win two home games. But not many teams win in Valencia so we’re under no illusions about how difficult it will be.
Bebe finding his feet
Lots of our young players did well in the Carling Cup game against Scunthorpe last Wednesday.
It was good to see Bebe get his first taste of first team action. There has been a lot of talk about him and I don’t understand why. Manchester United have signed so many young players over recent years, such as Manucho, Mame Diouf, Federico Macheda, Giuseppe Rossi, Cristiano Ronaldo, the Da Silva brothers and Chris Smalling, so I don’t understand the fuss about Bebe. It’s a bit unfair on him.
That said, it was good to see him play. He has a lot of raw talent, two great feet, he’s extremely quick and he’s learning all the time.
Michael Owen grabbed a brace and he will always score goals. His temperament and goal-scoring mentality are among the best you will see.
He will get more first team opportunities because he’s looking extremely sharp; every time he gets a chance he looks like he will take it. He’s a vital part of the squad and we missed him towards the end of last season when he got injured.
The Carling Cup is wide open, there are some difficult teams left and it’s very early to start talking about us going all the way. We have a good record in the competition but we need to maintain our focus because a lot can happen in a cup competition – we saw that when a lot of the big teams were knocked-out last week.
Send your questions to Gary Neville to sunday@timesofmalta.com.