Source: Daily_Mail
Martin Samuel: Some sinking facts for Rafa on another bad day for Liverpool
The devil, as always, is in the detail. What Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, would call facts. [LNB]Liverpool are now nearer on points to Sunderland in 13th place than to Manchester United in first. They have lost as many League matches as Birmingham City (10) and as many away from home as Wolverhampton Wanderers (eight). They have lost more away games than any team in the top eight, and have been outscored away by Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers. [LNB]It is increasingly difficult to gloss over this season at Liverpool as a temporary aberration, a blip. If it is a blip it is one that sounds increasingly like the Morse code distress signal, SOS.[LNB] Walking the Green Mile: Are Rafa Benitez's days at Liverpool numbered?[LNB]Albert Riera drew the sinking ship analogy in his criticism of Benitez last week and, considering the promise of last season, Liverpool look to be taking on water fast.[LNB]The scoreline from Old Trafford suggests a close match, but Manchester United eased past Liverpool much as they would the majority of mid-table sides. [LNB]Liverpool scored first and briefly threatened an upset, but United were quickly level and the winner was a matter of time. From there, Liverpool threatened rarely. Too many long balls, few risks taken. [LNB]Fernando Torres had the chance to equalise, but squandered it, and two points shared would have been a steal anyway.[LNB]Dynamo: Darren Fletcher is the unsung hero of Manchester United's title push[LNB]Manchester United did not even have to play particularly well. Darren Fletcher, awarded man of the match, talked of grinding out the result rather than collecting plaudits for style. [LNB]That is the difference. Liverpool are still reliant on heroes, where Manchester United, for all their success, have long functioned with the mindset of a humble collective. Just as Newcastle United are a club fixated with the cult of the number nine, so Liverpool are forever on the lookout for the next Kop idol. [LNB]A new banner this season sees Alberto Aquilani dressed in Roman robes and borrows a slogan from the film Gladiator. 'A hero will rise,' it says. Except Aquilani has not so much risen since arriving, injured, from Italy but been submergedin a mire of general mediocrity.[LNB]It took him until the 73rd minute to get on the pitch here, by which time Manchester United were comfortable in their supremacy. [LNB]Liverpool still look to Torres and Steven Gerrard as they have for many years now. Yet, certainly since Xabi Alonso left, the service they receive is unimaginative. It was not so much that Liverpool were bad on Sunday, more that they were bland. [LNB]Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, claimed the opposition overachieved last season when winning 4-1 and while his comment may have been harsh, there is little doubt Liverpool have lacked wit since Alonso departed.[LNB]Torres would have killed for the sort of cross that set up Ji-Sung Park's winner. That it came from Fletcher, who is famed more as warrior than creator, was telling. For all the attention paid to Wayne Rooney this season and he scored again on Sunday, his 33rd of the campaign on days like this United defy the label of the one-man team. [LNB]Rooney was brilliant, leading the line alone, and even on a day when he battles rather than dazzles he remains an irresistible force, a constant source of vexation for defenders and a permanent outlet for his team-mates, such is the generosity of his game.[LNB]Yet this was a match won by the foot soldiers: Fletcher, Park, even Gary Neville, whose overlapping run when the winning cross was struck will have caused a degree of uncertainty in Liverpool's defensive line and helped create the space for it to be delivered.[LNB] Taunt: Manchester United took great pleasure in mocking the demise of their fierce rivals[LNB]It was not lost on Ferguson that Fletcher has not played in Manchester United's previous three meetings with Liverpool and all have been lost. Injury and illness have kept him out and the way Ferguson calls on him in the biggest games even saving him for these occasions suggests his manager believes the outcome might have been different had his first- choice engine room attendant been available. [LNB]He probably thinks the same about the Champions League final last year, for which Fletcher was suspended, with the result that Barcelona's midfield ran riot. [LNB]Javier Mascherano, Liverpool's defensive midfield player, was once considered the finest in the country after Claude Makelele finished at Chelsea, but it is hard to see past Fletcher now. [LNB]Ferguson uses Michael Carrick sitting deep but has Fletcher on a long leash, breaking up the play as a priority, but with the freedom to join attacking moves. [LNB]Improving every season, he has evolved into more than a destroyer, as was indicated by his assisting role in the winning goal, taking him deep into the final third. Moments earlier he could be found skirmishing on the edge of his own penalty area.[LNB] On Sung: United match winner Ji-Sung Park stoops to head home[LNB]With Manchester City also victorious on Sunday reaping the benefit of Fulham's heroics against Juventus in midweek there must be a very real fear at Liverpool now that fourth place will elude them. Down to sixth, teams ahead of them have more points, and games in hand, as do Aston Villa who sit on their shoulder.[LNB]'Thursday night, Channel Five,' crowed the Old Trafford crowd, a reference to Liverpool's reduced status in Europe, and it is worth remembering that for all the trauma of this season, it could still end with a victory in one of only two remaining UEFA competitions, the Europa League.[LNB]No familiar home for heroes that, however. It is, though, home to Liverpool; and for another year at least, unless they quickly improve on this. [LNB] Manchester United 2 Liverpool 1: Park Ji-sung heads champions back to the top as Liverpool suffer 10th defeat Man United linked with huge £35m summer bid for Valencia star VillaRooney can break all United records, insists Old Trafford legend GiggsUnited's £1bn Super Knights: Two wealthy fans bid to force out GlazersFerguson insists Mascherano should have seen red in Old Trafford battleLIVERPOOL FC
