This quote is in locker rooms all over the country, and is a quote I first heard echoed by former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight. Unfortunately for Manchester United, this is a warning that needed to be heeded going into their 4-1 defeat at the hands at rival Liverpool this afternoon.
A goal of our University of Evansville team this 2009 season is not to make mistakes that give our opponents scoring chances - 'giving' goals to the other team, rather than having them earn them the hard way: by playing through or around our defense.
This has been a staple of a fortress-like defense at Old Trafford this season, and Manchester United has not been defeated at home since their FA Cup quarterfinal defeat by Portsmouth last March. I was in attendance at that match, and even though they had a boat-load of scoring chances, couldn't finish their opportunities while conceding a mistake in their own defense.
That same theme reared it's ugly head today as Manchester United fell victim to mistakes by their most reliable of players en route to their defeat today.
United went up early after Carlos Tevez sent a brilliantly weighted ball in behind for Park Ji-Sung, who was brought down in the box by Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina for a penalty. Cristiano Ronaldo cooly placed the spot kick in the back of the net, and for a brief moment, Manchester United appeared to have momentum.
5 minutes later, Liverpool was able to take advantage of a mistake by the normally reliable Nemanja Vidic to draw them level - Vidic let Martin Skrtel's long punt forward bounce when he could have headed it back into the Liverpool half quite easily. Then, he failed to deal with the loose ball, allowing Fernando Torres to nip in and streak clear, beating Edwin van der Sar with clinical efficiency.
Conceding one goal was amazing enough for the Red Devils, yet before half-time Liverpool had scored again. Hull City were the last team to score more than once against United in Premier League combat - and that was four-and-a-half months ago.
When Torres tried to send Steven Gerrard racing into the box and Patrice Evra mis-timed his tackle, the Liverpool skipper converted his penalty with the same confidence Ronaldo had shown earlier.
Gerrard's glee was obvious. And Liverpool's lead was fully deserved, condemning Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to his first interval rallying call in league combat at Old Trafford all season. The Scot injected a greater sense of urgency into his team, even if there was no improvement in their retention of the ball.
United at least managed to generate some momentum, with Tevez almost getting on the end of a Wayne Rooney knock-back and then rolling a shot on the turn just wide.
Having expressed his 'hatred' of Liverpool earlier in the week, the last thing Rooney wanted was to suffer an immediate defeat and a chance for Gerrard to gloat.
Yet as time ticked by, that was the fate Rooney was condemned to, especially as Ferguson waited until less than 20 minutes remained before he made the introductions of Dimitar Berbatov, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
It is the kind of strength Benitez does not have and one of the major reasons why Liverpool have found themselves on the wrong end of a 14-point swing in fortunes since United returned from their Club World Cup campaign in Japan just before Christmas.
What Liverpool have managed to do this season is beat Chelsea and United, against both of whom they have now registered 'doubles' - creating a silver lining for their disappointing second half of the season.
Any hope United had, evaporated within a minute of Ferguson's spectacular triple substitution as another woeful first touch, again from Vidic, left the Serbian little alternative other than to haul down Gerrard.
For the second successive game against Liverpool, it brought Vidic a red card and he was still making his way down the tunnel when Aurelio curled home a superb free-kick.
And Liverpool were not finished as Dossena lobbed van der Sar to complete a memorable win, whose significance remains unknown.
Ferguson, though, believes his team's overall performance was not too bad as he backed his players to show a positive response in their next game.
"It is a hard one to take because I thought, really, we were the better team and the score does not reflect that," Ferguson claimed. "But of course when you win 4-1 at Old Trafford you deserve all the plaudits and you can't deny them that. If the league was starting today, you would take a four-point start. It was a bad day in terms of the goals we lost but I couldn't argue with the quality of play that much."
Ferguson was willing to concede some of his players were not at their best, but refused to point the finger at individuals.
"One or two players were a little bit short today in terms of what we expect of them but I do know the football was good, we kept driving on and they showed good energy, even though we only had two and a half days to prepare for the match, he added," said Ferguson. "There is no complacency on our part. Now the thing is to respond. It always is at this club - you lose a game and you respond. We always do."
Two convincing victories during the past week against European powers Real Madrid and Manchester United breeds some life into an otherwise disappointing second half of the English Premier League season, and gives Liverpool some belief and confidence as they head into the home stretch of the European Champions League and Premiership seasons.
“We have beaten Real Madrid and Manchester United in the same week. If we can beat them, we can beat anybody," said Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez. “Realistically, we have to win all of our games. But part of winning the war is winning football matches. We have more belief and more confidence now. ”
Where the result is probably too little too late for the Premiership - Manchester United are still four points up on Liverpool, but also have a game at hand - this confidence and belief that Liverpool players and supporters now have should certainly raise expectations.
Where 'giving away goals' eventually did in Manchester United, the best teams make the fewest mistakes, and take advantage of opponents who make them. On this day, Liverpool was able to take advantage...which is what good teams do.
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