THE OBSERVER
Liverpool mugged Manchester United in broad daylight on a warm spring afternoon, pretending for most of the match to be as clueless and dispirited as their recent results suggested yet remaining alert enough to take advantage the minute the home side took their eye off the ball.
The game was no classic, illustrating more than anything how far both these sides have fallen from their previous high standards, though Liverpool's third win here in as many seasons will do wonders for their confidence and their chances of claiming the last Champions League place. United are now in serious danger of conceding second place and automatic Champions League qualification to Chelsea and on the evidence of this listless performance deserve no better.
This might have been the first game between these two clubs to kick off at three o'clock on a Saturday since the FA Cup final of 1996, but regardless of title aspirations or television interest there will always be an edge to the North-West derby. It is not mere parochialism, either; London dominance has been the exception rather than the rule in the past three or four decades and for most of that time the top dog in this rivalry has been the best team in the country. So while United fans enjoyed chanting 'Fourteen years' at the visiting supporters, reminding them how long it has been since a title went to Anfield, Sir Alex Ferguson was big enough to admit in the programme that Liverpool's former excellence was the main reason why Old Trafford endured 26 years without a championship.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
United had a shuffle of their own, bringing back Roy Keane, Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs for Nicky Butt, Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Bellion. Ronaldo started on the left flank to accommodate young Darren Fletcher on the right, and with Van Nistelrooy injured, Giggs partnered Louis Saha in attack.
Liverpool began poorly, absurdly hitting long, high balls from deep for Michael Owen to contest with Wes Brown and Mikael Silvestre. No wonder Owen has all but ceased scoring, and looks thoroughly brassed off. Whatever happened to the passing game for which his club were once renowned? United were not much better, although Saha’s pace was a threat against Stephane Henchoz and Sami Hyypia, for whom the word ponderous might have been coined. An undistinguished first half was a catalogue of errors and half chances, with neither goalkeeper extended. Owen, from a near-impossible angle on the left, and John Arne Riise, from distance, were not far away for Liverpool; for United, Saha and Fletcher finished feebly and Giggs fired over on the run. Even the referee had an off day, booking Henchoz for a foul committed by Gerrard.
The shirt-sleeved crowd, weary even of Ronaldo’s step-overs, sought alternative entertainment in taunting the visitors with choruses of "Champions League? You’re Having A Laugh." It was tempting to join in, but the last chuckle, of course, went to the Scouse legions.
The goal the game was crying out for arrived after 63 minutes, when Gerrard, cutting into the penalty area on the left, was brought down by Gary Neville. Liverpool had failed with their previous three penalties; who would take this one? A tough little nugget, Murphy stepped up and drove the ball hard, high and handsome past Howard’s left hand.
Ferguson’s response was to send on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in place of John O’Shea, and Giggs was desperately close to equalising in the 80th minute when, supplied by Saha, he shot against the inside of Jerzy Dudek’s right-hand post. Saha should certainly have scored a minute later when he headed a Giggs cross wastefully wide. And with United stamping hard on the accelerator, Dudek saved from Saha at the second attempt.
Liverpool feel a lot safer in fourth spot, United face a tougher battle with Chelsea for runners-up. Their meeting here on May 8 could be a cracker. The fans are due one after this.
THE INDEPENDENT
Say what you like about Liverpool - and most people have in the past couple of years - they do pick their venues for what have become rare successes away from Anfield. The first of only five this season was at Everton, the most recent at Chelsea more than three months ago, and yesterday's came at a venue where they are even happier to win than at Goodison. It was not undeserved, if only because Manchester United played so limply until the last few minutes of a dreadfully disappointing game, though the means could hardly have been predicted: not since Ruel Fox of Norwich City 10 years ago has a visiting player converted a penalty in the Premiership at Old Trafford.
Not many are given the opportunity, but even the most intimidated referee would have found it difficult to turn a blind eye to Gary Neville's impetuous lunge at Steven Gerrard after just over an hour's play. Home supporters encouraged by their opponents' wretched record from the spot - six misses this season - would have been less pleased to see Danny Murphy, so often a scoring scourge of United, stepping forward to take the kick. He planted it confidently past Tim Howard for his third winning goal on the ground in five seasons.
So United wasted the chance to put Chelsea under pressure for the second automatic Champions' League place, while Newcastle must now beat the London side by two goals today to reclaim fourth position. The absence of Ruud van Nistelrooy, injured after playing a full 90 minutes against Charlton in midweek, and the suspended Paul Scholes hardly explained United's lack of penetration.
Ferguson, no lover of Liverpool's counter-attacking style, made a tactical change at half-time to try and unhinge them, switching Ronaldo from left to right. Surprisingly, it was Houllier who made the first attacking substitution, sending on Smicer for Finnan after an hour of largely unproductive football. The Czech had not touched the ball before his team went in front. Tim Howard, who appears to have edged back in front of Roy Carroll as United's FA Cup final goalkeeper, was rescued by Roy Keane as Murphy's corner left him in no-man's land, but then betrayed by Neville's mistimed tackle on the marauding Gerrard that brought the undisputed penalty.
Owen, who has missed 10 of his 23 penalties for the club, and Gerrard, who failed recently against Fulham, declined the honours this time, Murphy confidently stepping forward to continue his fine scoring record at Old Trafford.
United responded by replacing John O'Shea with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, whose hook across goal after 73 minutes was their first effort of the half. Houllier, with no defensive player in the dug-out, must have wished he could put Finnan back on, all the more so as the home side suddenly threatened three times in as many minutes. The best attempt by far was from Giggs, sending the ball off one post on to the other as he met a centre from Ronaldo, who then crossed a whisker in front of the lunging Solskjaer. Finally, and lamentably, Saha headed wide as Giggs offered him an equaliser on a plate.
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
These encounters normally generate as much passion as a Premiership fan can stand. But United have struggled to maintain any level of performance since their championship challenge ran out of steam, while Liverpool's ran out of steam around the first week in September.
Manchester United officials consulted Greater Manchester Police about whether the game could go ahead after the supposed threat of an Al-Qaeda attack but shirt-sleeved officers around the ground seemed more interested in sunshine than Semtex. There was certainly no visibly higher level of security.
Referee Graham Poll, who pulled out of officiating the game with a hamstring injury, might also have been frightened off. But not by bombs, more what sort of reception he was likely to have received from United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who was furious when Poll cited Gary Neville as one of the worst divers in the game.
Inside the 'Theatre Of Dreams', there was such a party atmosphere that you would never have imagined that United were on the brink of conceding the title to Arsenal, who are now uncatchable. But then United do have an FA Cup final to look forward to and their supporters like nothing better than to trade insults with the Scousers.
Conspiracy theorists might suspect that Ferguson gave him a run out only in the hope that he might pick up a trifling injury that would prevent him joining up with Ireland in Dublin today in preparation for Wednesday's friendly in Poland. But a bigger mystery was the absence of striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, United having announced a clean bill of health after Friday training.
The rumour mill, of course, is the only dark, satanic mill in operation around these parts these days, one of them linking Van Nistelrooy with a move to Barcelona this summer. Then again, speculation also suggests that Owen is another Barcelona target - what a pairing those two would make at the Nou Camp.
There are also reports that Rio Ferdinand will take over Keane's armband next season, though the sight of Ferdinand chatting to Sven-Goran Eriksson beforehand might persuade the more imaginative gossip mongers to suggest that they will pair up at Chelsea next season.