‘Hyped to its eyeballs, and peppered with players who earn more in a week than a firefighter or a staff nurse earns in a year, the Premiership still has room for human frailty. The more we try to make gods of our footballers, the more unforgiving the light that exposes their failings. After Manchester United's 2-1 win
at Anfield yesterday, students of calamity will talk long into the night about the ordeals of Jerzy Dudek and Diego Forlan.Dudek is the Polish monolith who kept goal so well for Liverpool last season that many regarded him as the league's most reliable custodian. Forlan was the darting South American blond who dashed around up front for United without ever fulfilling his goalscoring brief. 'Diego Forlorn' they called him when the opposition's goal started to seem more remote than his native Uruguay. Cut to a mild December Sunday and marvel at Forlan's two-goal match-winning performance.
Dudek, at fault for both, is riding a savage drop in form and left for home a hollow man.
Dudek's first mistake was not the kind of bad-day-at-the-office miscalculation we all make in our lives. It has the potential to ruin his reputation and his self-esteem. It looks even worse when placed alongside Fabien Barthez's gymnastic save from a volley by Dietmar Hamann.
Liverpool's Jamie Carragher will probably never erase the memory of heading a bouncing ball softly back to his keeper in the 64th minute and then seeing it slither first through his team-mate's palms, then his legs and finally into the path of Forlan, who beat Dudek again three minutes later with a highly stoppable shot that crept inside the near post.
Amid the handbags and the gladrags, United kept their championship challenge alive without ever justifying Sir Alex Ferguson's claim that they are "back to their best".
Banished to the UEFA Cup, that consolation prize for Champions League also-rans, Gerard Houllier's men have now gone four league games without a win. Four weeks ago they were seven points clear in the Premiership.’In the same paper Henry Winter adds:
‘Anfield never allows any of its own to walk alone but poor Jerzy Dudek will feel a lonely figure this morning. A handling error by the Liverpool goalkeeper, a mistake both comic and catastrophic, gifted Diego Forlan the first of his two goals for Manchester United yesterday.
Sami Hyypia's riposte was too little too late to rescue Liverpool, whose alarming slide coincides and contrasts with United's ascent back into the limelight. In a microcosm of unfolding events yesterday, Dudek's horror show was highlighted by the excellence of Fabien Barthez, who pulled off one of the season's great saves to deny Dietmar Hamann late on.
The harsh spotlight of unforgiving headlines will burn on Dudek today. With the score standing at 0-0 and the clock showing 64 minutes, Dudek endured a moment that will stalk his sleep for many nights to come. When Jamie Carragher directed a routine back-header towards the popular Pole, any danger appeared minimal.
Maybe Dudek should have worn a cap to stop the sun scrambling his vision. Maybe he simply took his eye off the ball; after all, this was a situation keepers are drilled into dealing with from the first time they pull on gloves.
But 'maybes' provide only false comfort for the fallen in football. The embarrassment engulfing Dudek was brutal reality, the ball sliding through his hands and then legs. As Dudek turned around, despairing at this mess of his own making, his anguish was intensified when he saw Forlan darting in to stroke the ball over the line.
Insults were added to his injured reputation. United's visiting glee-club, congregated close by in the Anfield Road Stand, swiftly re-wrote their song-book to commemorate Dudek's disaster. "One Jerzy Dudek" was one of the more printable.
Sir Alex Ferguson's comment that United "are back to our best" was patently premature; United will only regain their true character and counter-attacking verve when Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand and David Beckham return to add technique and vision.
Some of their players were below par yesterday: Ryan Giggs failed to trouble Jamie Carragher, Fortune huffed and puffed to minimal effect while Van Nistelrooy appeared more interested in his niggly duel with Hyypia.
But certain players definitely stood up and were counted when it mattered most: Barthez was well protected by the mobile Silvestre and the dogged Gary Neville. In midfield, Scholes, passing accurately and running relentlessly, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer worked hard. Silvestre probably shaded Scholes as man of the match.’