THE SIGHT of an on loan centre-half from a Championship club being thrown on in a desperate attempt to save the game perhaps best summed up a scrappy spectacle at Anfield.
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| Steven Caulker's introduction as a striker at Anfield summed up the quality of the game |
No disrespect to Steven Caulker but he would be the first to admit he never imagined he would be joining Liverpool as an impact player in successive home games against Arsenal and Manchester United.
But such is Liverpool's goal shortage - their starting line-up yesterday could boast only six between them this season - that was Caulker's brief role in a match that only served to underline the short comings of English footballs two most successful clubs.
No-one wonder neither Louis van Gaal or Jurgen Klopp looked particularly happy afterwards.
A scrappy 90 minutes emphasised the size of the re-building jobs facing them at two clubs who, in polite terms, are very much in transition.
The numerous mistakes and misplaced passes were compounded by precious few moments of real quality and clear-cut chances.
At times it was so bad it resembled a play-ground kick around, so often did the two teams give the ball back to each other.
They looked what they were going into the game - the sixth and ninth placed teams in the Premier League.
The history and ambitions of these clubs is to compete at the highest level in Europe. But it is fair to say that if they were watching this, then Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid will not be quaking in their boots.
When the dust had settled, Van Gaal was, of course, the more satisfied manager simply because he had claimed the spoils and United had continued their stumbling upwards trajectory.
It's three wins and two draws since their December crisis reached its lowest point with the defeat at Stoke on Boxing Day when Van Gaal looked and talked as if he was ready to walk before he was pushed.
The Dutchman is not everyone's cup of tea but if he decides to go - or is pushed - into retirement this summer, at least he will go with a 100 per cent record over the club's biggest foe. Two successive League doubles against Liverpool equates to an awful lot of credit in the bank whoever is United manager.
But once again he had David De Gea to thank. Two outstanding saves by the Spaniard from Roberto Firmino and Emre Can in the second half prevented Liverpool from taking a deserved lead and confirmed that for all the £250m Van Gaal has spent, his most important signing was to persuade De Gea to pen a new deal after his deadline day move to Real Madrid collapsed.
Marounae Fellaini is a much ridiculed figure, a player who never looks as if he is a United player. But after a frustrating first half he was a key figure in United's improvement after the break. Having said that they could not have got much worse.
The former Everton man helped out his hard-pressed defence on several occasions - particularly in the air - and created the only goal of the game, again with his aerial presence.
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| Steven Caulker has been subbed on against Arsenal and Manchester United in his first two games |
Fellaini climbed the highest to head Juan Mata's cross against the bar, and when the ball came down, Wayne Rooney crashed it home.
Rooney - a veteran of these battles - had been a fairly anonymous figure before that decisive strike, no doubt frustrated by the disjointed struggles around him.
The United captain went home happy to have scored at Goodison and Anfield in the same season for the first time.
But he will know better than anyone United are still a work in progress. Just like Liverpool.
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