Source: Liverpool_Echo
Liverpool FC 2 Manchester United 0 - Dominic King's verdict
CRISIS? What crisis?[LNB]Having spent the last month stuttering and stumbling through a fog induced by a series of wretched results, desperate luck and dispirited performances, suddenly all seems well with the world once more.[LNB]There was a feeling that blood was going to be spilt at Anfield yesterday, that Manchester United were going to breeze into town and crank up the pressure on Rafa Benitez to intolerable levels by inflicting a fifth straight defeat on Liverpool.[LNB]Yet, to adapt the saying made famous by Mark Twain, reports of this grand institution's death are greatly exaggerated; had they been the side that many claimed were engulfed in terminal turmoil, they would not have dismantled their greatest foes with such élan.[LNB]Some may have feared the worst but any reservations were quickly banished, as the Reds conjured up a display that silenced the doubters, stunned Alex Ferguson and showed why Benitez and his players are never more dangerous than when being written off.[LNB]It would, of course, be ridiculous to sit here today and start making predictions that Liverpool are now going to mount a withering charge for the title, simply because they dumped the current holders gleefully and contemptuously on to their backsides.[LNB]That is one of the problems with the modern game; champ one moment, chumps the next, there is no grey area and the speed with which knee-jerk reactions are made often beggars belief - no club finds itself subjected to such analysis more than Liverpool.[LNB]So it pays in the moments of stomach-churning lows and dizzying highs to try and find a sense of perspective; should you do that with Liverpool today, you will see a side equipped to be a major player in the top four once again.[LNB]Yes they have played poorly during October and, as a result, have jeopardised their hopes of both reaching the Champions League knockout stages and pushing for the prize that is coveted most of all but don't all sides endure sticky patches at some point in a campaign?[LNB]Take United. Somehow it has failed to register with a wide audience they have looked half the side without Cristiano Ronaldo and only a couple of referee rants from Ferguson have deflected the attention away from some decidedly mediocre showings of late.
