Gerrard torments United to breathe life into title chase

Manchester United 1 Liverpool 4: Captain leads Liverpool charge against flat-footed champions

It may take even more than this to stop the Manchester United juggernaut, but Rafa Benitez's Merseyside scallies yesterday inflicted a nasty enough dent to require remedial work by Sir Alex Ferguson. His team are still four points clear of Liverpool, with an away game at Wigan in hand, and should the champions go on, as must still be expected, to retain their title, United's manager may look back on this as a useful corrective to the sort of complacency he has never tolerated.

It may well have been one of those days when words spoken in the dressing room were harsher than those for public consumption, which seemed excessively generous in suggesting "I thought we were the better team". To more neutral eyes, that applied only at the start of each half, periods cut short each time by Liverpool goals that owed much to uncharacteristic fallibility in United's defence.

Fernando Torres, fit enough to start the game though not to finish it, was a constant worry while he stayed on the pitch to Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, the latter so uncomfortable that he was sent off for the second time against Liverpool this season. In front of them, neither Michael Carrick nor Anderson ever got to grips with Steven Gerrard, who may have failed in previous encounters with United to live up to his reputation but did it justice here and was rewarded with his first goal at Old Trafford, albeit from the penalty spot.

That sent Liverpool in with a lead at half-time, Torres having equalised Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty. The other scorers would have cost the bookmakers less money, full-backs Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena completing United's most emphatic home defeat since Queens Park Rangers won by the same score when the Premier League was a mere babe in arms. Had Gerrard not missed one of the day's easier chances late on, the scoreline would have taken on a magnitude sufficient in itself to have done serious psychological damage.

As it is, Ferguson is confident that United's coming opponents, rather than the champions themselves, will be the ones to suffer. "At this club, it's a case of when you lose a game, you respond, and that's what we'll do," he promised. "It was a bad day in terms of the goals lost, and one or two players were short of what we expect. The goal difference [advantage] has narrowed to five but we'd have settled for a four-point advantage at this stage. Now we've got to kick on."

His programme notes included a socio-economic treatise on how the rivalry between the two cities dated back to the Manchester Ship Canal opening, before going on to deal with the detail of picking a team who would be strong but fresh. To that end he rested Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov after their exertions against Internazionale in midweek, only to summon all three in the sort of triple substitution he has rarely required down the years. The score at that stage was 2-1 and recovery for a satisfactory draw appeared possible, but within a couple of minutes Vidic had held back Gerrard at the cost of a sending-off and a free-kick from which Aurelio sealed the victory.

Liverpool made light of the absence of Xabi Alonso, who had picked up a knock in the impressive dismissal of Real Madrid in midweek, and did not appear to suffer either from having to shift Jamie Carragher to right-back and bring in Sami Hyypia at short notice after Alvaro Arbeloa was injured in the warm-up. Carragher does not enjoy playing at full-back but he settled well after Park Ji-Sung had nipped into the inside-right position on to Tevez's pass to win an early penalty, Pepe Reina unwisely committing himself to a challenge. Ronaldo put the spot-kick away for his 18th goal of the season, which turned out to be United's high point of the day.

The visitors were undaunted by the setback, claiming an equaliser within five minutes. Although Martin Skrtel's hoof upfield was intended as little more than a clearance, Vidic allowed it to bounce, after which Torres outpaced him and calmly beat Edwin van der Sar. By half-time the goalkeeper, used to conceding every 12 hours these days, was bending his back again, this time to pick out Gerrard's penalty after the Liverpool captain had been brought down by Patrice Evra as he pursued a Torres pass.

Only for 20 minutes at the start of the second half did United threaten to regain parity. Ronaldo, switched to the left flank and then briefly down the centre, curled a centre that struck Reina's post and then chipped a pass that Rooney cut back across goal, where Tevez could not reach it.

A nervous home crowd had barely had their chants for Giggs's intro- duction answered than the decisive moment occurred. Vidic held Gerrard back 25 yards out but failed to convince Alan Wiley, who was handling one of these impassioned set-tos for the first time in seven years and doing it well, that there was a covering defender. Not only was the red card shown, but Aurelio curled the free-kick into the side of the goal left vacant by Van der Sar. In added time, Reina cleared downfield and not a single United player touched the ball before Andrea Dossena lobbed it over the stranded goalkeeper.

The juggernaut had been dented. Now to see if the wheels come off.

Once in a blue moon

The last time Manchester United lost a home League game after being ahead was: Tuesday 10 May 2005: Manchester United 1 Van Nistelrooy Chelsea 3 Tiago, Gudjohnsen, J Cole

United's last home League defeat was 2-1 against Manchester City in February 2008, their 14th home game of the season. Yesterday was their 14th home game of this season.

United were 1-0 up at Anfield in September before losing 2-1.

United had won 12 successive League games at Old Trafford this season since the opening weekend's 1-1 draw with Newcastle.

Cristiano Ronaldo had scored in 48 games at Old Trafford and Manchester United won them all – until yesterday..........

It was United's heaviest home defeat since New Year's Day 1992, when they lost 4-1 to QPR, Dennis Bailey netting a hat-trick.

James Mariner

Man for Man: Manchester United

EDWIN VAN DER SAR 5/10

Suddenly he is beatable. Could hardly have done anything about three of them, though might have anticipated the third from Aurelio's free-kick.

JOHN O'SHEA 5/10

Fourth-choice right-back praised by the manager for his versatility but unable to stem the flow or achieve anything when going forward. United need Rafael Da Silva back from injury.

RIO FERDINAND 6/10

More solid than his partner, Vidic, although that was not saying much on the day. Both of them were grateful to see Fernando Torres hobbling in the second half and then taken off.

NEMANJA VIDIC 3/10

May have lost a few votes as Footballer of the Year with his uncharacteristically weak performance. Horrible error for the Liverpool equaliser, then a red card that led to Liverpool's third goal from the resulting free-kick.

PATRICE EVRA 4/10

Caught out badly by Torres's pass and Steven Gerrard's run for the penalty and uncertain for much of the match. Unusually, was not able to offer anything in attack either.

CRISTIANO RONALDO 6/10

Found Liverpool doubling up on him to good effect when he worked the right flank in the first half and the left in the second. A cool finish with United's penalty (right).

MICHAEL CARRICK 5/10

Does more than just sit in front of the defence these days but could not impose himself further forward here. Made a number of wayward passes, and it was no surprise that he was taken off with 20 minutes remaining.

ANDERSON 4/10

Brought back into the side to offer extra vigour in the centre of midfield, he was unable to add any creativity and was an obvious candidate to come off in the triple substitution.

PARK JI-SUNG 6/10

Worked as hard as ever and won the penalty early on but was less effective when switched to the right-hand side in the second half. Made way for Dimitar Berbatov.

WAYNE ROONEY 5/10

Whether it is hatred or mere dislike of Liverpool, the motivation came to nothing. Out of sorts all afternoon, reflected in constant rebuking of his own team for not pushing up more.

CARLOS TEVEZ 6/10

Dropped off Rooney to good effect in the first half, setting up United's penalty with his shrewd pass for Park. Needs more goals to earn a regular starting place.

Substitutes

Paul Scholes (for Anderson, 73) 6/10. Sat as a holding midfielder as the six in front of him stormed forward in vain. Dimitar Berbatov (for Park, 73) 5/10. Given offside when presented with his one chance, hit against a post.

Ryan Giggs (for Carrick, 73) 6/10. The crowd were chanting for him long before his entrance but he was unable to add any inspiration.

Steve Tongue

Man for Man: Liverpool

PEPE REINA 4/10

Park was heading nowhere when Reina felled him for United's penalty, and the Spaniard also spilled a corner and almost misjudged a Ronaldo cross which slammed his inside post. United's penalty aside, he didn't have a save to make.

JAMIE CARRAGHER 6/10

Stepped in at the last minute at right-back and was tested for pace on occasion early on and booked for pulling down Tevez. But a masterful challenge on Park as he met a low first-half cross from Ronaldo sums him up.

MARTIN SKRTEL 7/10

Significant contribution to the silencing of Rooney, Tevez and later Berbatov. Booked for one hack at Tevez, but this performance illustrated how he has developed. Unintended assist set up Torres's goal.

SAMI HYYPIA 6/10

Responded well and provided solidity. His lack of pace was something United did not test and this was one of the quietest afternoons he will have known at Old Trafford.

FABIO AURELIO 7/10

Dealt with Ronaldo as capably as he did Arjen Robben against Real Madrid before an exquisite free-kick from his excellent left foot sealed the match.

LUCAS 5/10

Didn't provide the vision that Liverpool would have expected from Xabi Alonso, who was a late injury. Looked like he didn't know where to distribute, yet Anderson and Carrick were still unable to dominate midfield.

JAVIER MASCHERANO 9/10

The key to a memorable win. His intensity in front of his own defence denied United any means of creation, leaving Ronaldo a particularly bereft figure.

DIRK KUYT 8/10

Gerrard and Torres's dominant role in the game was built on the foundations of a fine work ethic among those players operating between the lines. Kuyt was the major exponent, and his ball setting Gerrard free resulted in Vidic's dismissal.

STEVEN GERRARD 8/10

After a quiet start, he demonstrated his great understanding with Torres. One of the few players to have beaten Evra for speed this season. He will wonder how he missed in injury time.

ALBERT RIERA 6/10

Not quite at the levels of play he first found in Liverpool's 2-1 win over United at Anfield, and not exactly a font of creativity before he was substituted just after the hour.

FERNANDO TORRES 9/10

Reduced one of the world's finest defenders to pulp. Though Vidic was embarrassed, Ferdinand also struggled. Composure of his finish revealed his world class.

Substitutes

Andrea Dossena (left; for Riera, 67) 7/10. A fine left-foot finish to go with his goal against Real Madrid. Ryan Babel (for Torres, 81) 5/10. Set up the superb chance Gerrard missed late on. Nabil El Zhar (on for Gerrard, 90) 4/10. A better cross for Babel might also have seen a Liverpool fifth.

Ian Herbert