Five points to take from United’s win over Liverpool

1. Back beating rivals now after a miserable derby defeat on Sunday. A win over Liverpool is one thing, but with your second string team it’s a bonus. In the league we’ve already travelled to Anfield, performed poorly and dropped three points. I wouldn’t dare say a victory in the Capital One Cup makes up for that, but David Moyes really needed this result tonight. It was his first win over a rival as Manchester United boss, and may it be the first of many.

2. Liverpool’s famous atmosphere? There was 7,500 of them at Old Trafford tonight and for the majority of the game they were as quiet as mice as opposed to our surprisingly good atmosphere. There were also reports of flares being thrown at United fans after Hernandez scored. Tut tut.

3. Rafael was back in the mix tonight and performed brilliantly. Defended well when called upon and bombed forward to assist both Nani and Januzaj. I said last season I thought he was the best right back in the league, or that it was a close one between him and Zabaleta, but either way there is little in it. Last season he added maturity to his game and became increasingly consistent. Our little South American right back has developed into a fine player.

4. A few players, who we haven’t seen much this season, got a chance to showcase what they’ve got tonight. Hernandez, Nani, Kagawa and Evans all stood out. The Japanese midfielder may lack match sharpness, yet he succeeded in providing moments of class. Hernandez was a real pain in the arse for Liverpool’s back four and Nani was up for it. At the back we saw the return of Evans and all I can say is solid as ever. There was also a continuation of faith put into Januzaj, who came on from the bench with under 20 minutes remaining. The only disappointment was Buttner. He was away with the fairies.

5. A topic of conversation before the game was Rooney captaining United. Although he’s performed superbly since the start of the season, including tonight, I was not in favour of the idea. Not after what happened in 2010 or during the summer. No thank you.

Image courtesy of Mirror.co.uk.