United and Chelsea Stumble: But Liverpool Still Have a Mountain To Climb

The last 19 days have certainly been an incredible time to be a Liverpool supporter. Just as everything seemed to be falling down around our ears; the beautiful game of football proves once again that she is an unpredictable enigma.

After Liverpool's unexpected 2-0 loss to relegation-battling Middlesbrough; Rafa Benitez and his players showed how to bounce back from defeat. The Reds provided the fans with their own two-goal triumph over a Sunderland team unbeaten in four games and buoyant from a worthy goal-less draw at the Emirates.

One week later, and Liverpool entertained European giants, Real Madrid, in the second leg of the first knock-out stage of the Champions league.

Despite being 1-0 up from the first leg and an away-goal to the good, many rival club supporters and media outlets had already written off "defensive" Liverpool to the formidable attacking talents of Madrid.

The belief and confidence that Rafael Benitez has installed in his players over the last few seasons in the European competition, added to the motivation provided from being constantly written off by the media; the players and the manager proved once again why they are UEFA's official No. 1 club in Europe over the last five seasons.

After what many consider to be Liverpool's best and most complete performance for quite a few years, rival supporters and some media outlets still persisted with their spin policy and put it down to the fact that Madrid just didn't play and this made Liverpool look better than they actually were.

Four goals from Liverpool without response from Madrid proved to many supporters that the future is potentially very bright under Rafel Benitez.

After providing yet another memorable European performance—this time against a very in-form Real Madrid—the football community and tabloid hacks started looking towards the next game on the horizon: Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The game was already over before it had even begun according to some supporters and journalists: "You might as well just give us the three points now" and "the defensive Rafa will crumble under the weight of the best team in the world" where a sample of the comments thrown around in the days leading up to the important showdown.

Benitez never gave up hope and stated the title was still a possibility for Liverpool if they could get the win at Old Trafford.

Again, the Spaniard was mocked by papers and rival fans and laughed at for being so optimistic; even his own supporters slated him for throwing the season away in the 10 previous draws—despite the players being the reason for drawing games and not the manager—and many Liverpool supporters were expecting to be rightfully humiliated by a dominating "untouchable" Manchester United.

Despite the tabloid predictions before the game, the two teams were pretty evenly matched for the first 30 minutes. 

Yet thanks to some very hard work from Liverpool's midfield, good tactical awareness from Rafa and some key errors from the United players and their manager, Liverpool went on to a very convincing and deserved 4-1 victory—United's biggest defeat in the league in 17 years.

This convincing win over the European, domestic and world club champions, completed the league double over the seemingly "invincible" Manchester United. Rafa had not won a single Premier League game against Ferguson's team in the entire time he had been in English football.

The Old Trafford triumph could also be added to the two victories over Chelsea—with the 1-0 Stamford Bridge win ending Chelsea's incredible four-year, 86-game home winning streak.

Many Manchester United supporters were very gracious in their teams defeat and gave the praise that was due but, as was expected, there was still one or two who tried to laugh away the defeat with excuses and unrealistic explanations.

Many stated this was exactly what the squad needed to give them motivation for the rest of the title run-in and that United would prove their credentials by taking it out on Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Their club would then go on to win the Premier League because they would "not be dropping any more points this season, especially against a team like Fulham."

Manchester United lost 2-0 to Fulham at Craven Cottage and had two players sent off in the process.

This was certainly good news for the chasing Liverpool and Chelsea teams who are four points behind the league leaders. Chelsea's response to United dropping points was to go to White Hart Lane and lose 1-0 to mid-table Tottenham.

With Merseyside rivals, Everton, also losing their game against relegation threatened Portsmouth, the Liverpool supporters where certainly having a great day as all three of their main rivals lost their respective games.

The recent results from the top three teams have definitely made the Premier League more interesting, as Liverpool entertain fifth placed Aston Villa in the attempt at getting to within one point of Manchester United in first place.

This is not the time for any Liverpool supporters to be getting carried away with United's unexpected stumble. There are still a great many opportunities for Liverpool to drop points over the next eight matches—but after United and Chelsea's recent games, the same can also be said for them.

Now is the time for Liverpool supporters to pull together and back the manager and every single player he decides to choose for the first team. This is not the time to be picking holes, spreading negative points of view and using hindsight to attack the manager for making mistakes.

Another draw for Liverpool may not immediately mean the season is definitely over because both United and Chelsea have proven they are not invincible and there is still scope for both teams—Liverpool included—to drop points over the next eight games.

At the start of the season many Liverpool supporters just asked that their team would be in the title fight when it gets around to March. Well, I for one honestly believe that Liverpool are still very much in this fight and anything can happen from here-on-in.

The game against Aston Villa today will be a tough one and despite a poor run of form recently; Villa are still a very quick and dangerous counter-attacking team who could punish Liverpool if they come out all guns blazing and fail to concentrate at the back.

Rafa Benitez has no injury concerns ahead of the game and will no doubt choose the best 11 players he believes are best suited to cope with Aston Villa. If his players win, not much will be said about his selection.

If the players fail to perform to their potential, then the manager will be held responsible again.

Whatever happens today, I will be supporting the team to the very end of the season and will not get despondent if we fail to win the league. Now that Rafael Benitez has signed up to the club for another five seasons and the team has shown even more progression: The future is definitely bright and full of potential.

Liverpool are slowly climbing back on to the proverbial perch we fell off a long time ago.