TWELVE months on, and the disappointment was once again etched on the faces of Liverpool FC’s players as they trudged from the field following the final whistle.
But whereas last year the cause was a worst derby performance in living memory, Saturday’s dismay was of an altogether different nature.
That Kenny Dalglish’s side were frustrated at failing to topple champions and Premier League leaders Manchester United was a further indication of the transformation the manager has helped oversee since Fenway Sports Group’s £300million takeover. Whether it’s a sign Liverpool are emphatically closing the gap on their bitter North West rivals isn’t quite so cut and dried, however.
After all, we’ve been here before. United had lost on their previous three trips down the other end of the East Lancs Road, yet still finished the season with silverware while Liverpool remained empty-handed.
Too many false dawns than supporters care to remember suggest nobody on the Kop will have gone overboard at this hard-earned draw.
A more accurate barometer of what stage Dalglish’s men are in their progress will come at home to Norwich City next week, the kind of low-key fixture Liverpool have so often been expected to win yet struggled to convince.
That said, they will go into that encounter with a growing momentum and confidence having arguably deserved more than just a point against the Champions League final losers.
Saturday’s game was a curious affair. Sir Alex Ferguson’s cautious, pragmatic starting line-up could be taken as a compliment to Liverpool, the Scot no doubt mindful of the manner a strangely gutless United were ripped apart in this game in March.
But it perhaps more reflected the Old Trafford manager’s acknowledgement of his team’s weaknesses rather than the strengths of the opposition, United having started shipping goals despite an unbeaten start to the campaign.
Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, Nani and Antonio Valencia all began on the bench as United sought to negate Liverpool’s attacking threat at the expense of their own.
