Dominic Monaghan: After Manchester United’s Win, Bring on the Bottleneck

You know Dominic Monaghan as Charlie from Lost or Merry from Lord of the Rings. But he’s also a Paste Soccer columnist and a lifelong Manchester United fan.

The other hot derby on the planet played out this past weekend and it ended in three points for the Red Devils and a red face for Steven Gerrard.

It’s hard to give him too much of a hard time for a second of madness but I believe his attitude towards the game had already been decided on the bench in the first half.

United had almost 70 percent of the possession and were bossing the midfield—something that must make the Liverpool captain sick. Especially when he can’t affect the game.

He came on for the second half and put in a performance split straight down the middle. A lovely sprayed pass over to the wing to start with. A cheeky-as-hell lob in the centre of the park to assert himself into the midfield position further (I’m here now guys the rules are different) and then a rush of blood challenge on Juan Mata and moments later a blatant straight red stamp on Ander Herrera.

He complained little and apologised a lot, knowing as a classy professional that he had made a genuine mistake.

Gerrard’s challenge wasnt half as bad as Martin Skrtel’s on De Gea, whose face was that of a background artist from The Walking Dead upon impact. Happily, the FA have noted this and are taking action. It’s challenges like that that break legs.

Juan Mata meanwhile continues to grow in confidence and statue as he cements his way into the midfield. A confidence that allowed him to break forward for both of his goals. An inch-perfect pass from Herrera and a lovely piece of air-ninja work for his side scissor kick into the net and up into a comfy fourth spot.

Plenty more drama to come but if United continue to time their form just right they may be in line for second place with the noisy neighbors City in disarray at the moment.

Bring on the bottleneck end to the season.