Evra Irked By Lapses

Patrice Evra admits he felt a mix of delight and relief after United's pulsating 3-2 victory over Liverpool.

Having gone 2-0 ahead at Old Trafford through a Dimitar Berbotov double, the Reds were in complete control of a match they'd dominated.

But lapses in defence - on the back of dropped points at Fulham and Everton having been in pole position to pick up all three - allowed Roy Hodgson's men to draw level.

Thankfully, Berbatov popped up to complete his hat-trick six minutes from time and ensure an important win for United, but while pleased with the result, Evra was equally frustrated at temporarily losing another lead.

"We need to stop this," he told MUTV. "We need to stop making things so nervous - we could have finished the game with a heart attack!

"I think all the fans enjoyed the match, but it's a concern that we let a two-goal lead slip again and it's left me not happy.

"I don't know why we made the job hard - we could have made it much easier for ourselves. A similar thing happened at Everton.

"As I said, I'm happy to win the game, but we've got make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again."

With United and Liverpool each having endured somewhat stuttering starts to the campaign, a win was vital for both sides even this early in the season.

Evra believes dropped points against the Merseysiders on Sunday would have put a major dent in United's hopes.

"You're playing at Old Trafford and winning 2-0 against Liverpool and then it's 2-2. If you end up drawing the game you can already say 'how are you going to win the league if you draw that type of game?'" explained the Frenchman.

"It was an accident against Fulham, another accident against Everton, but if we'd have done it again, you could say it would make it hard to win the league."