Heavy metal football without the drums and cymbals

THIS is not a result that will cost Liverpool the Premier League title. They are, as their supporters in the corner sang at full-time, now top of the table.

Equally, Jurgen Klopp’s team will not outlast Manchester City in the title race playing like this. When you are chasing glory against a seriously good team like City, opportunities have to be taken, whoever they are against.

A scoreless draw at Old Trafford has long been a good result for any visiting Liverpool team, but this felt like an exception. Facing an inferior United side — who were further reduced by three first-half injuries — this was not an afternoon for survival, pride and credibility.

No, this was an afternoon to make a statement while City were engaged elsewhere. A win here would have placed Liverpool three points ahead of them and it would have felt important and significant.

As it was, Liverpool were as becalmed as the warm February weather, lacking in sparkle, creativity and imagination. Were they lacking in confidence too after some recent below- par performances? It was hard to believe a team of internationals would suffer that way.

Whatever the case, Liverpool were not good enough, nowhere near. City will watch the highlights of this — it won’t take long — and feel optimistic.

Afforded tons of possession by a United team happy to sit in and play on the counter, Klopp’s players did absolutely nothing with the ball.

United’s goalkeeper David de Gea was stretched by an errant Ashley Young back-pass in the very first minute and after that was called upon to do not a thing. De Gea did not make a single save in the match.

So this game will be remembered more as a curiosity than a real spectacle. When United lost Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard (himself a replacement for Mata) in the space of 22 minutes, it looked for a moment like they might end up playing with inferior numbers. Had they done so, they still might have got by.

United did what they needed to do from that point on and will be happy enough with their own direction of travel. It was hard to blame them for their relative lack of ambition in the game once their plans were disrupted by misfortune early on.

They are a point outside the top four now and they would have taken that after a dismantling at Anfield prompted the club to bring in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in December. Here the home team’s best players were Paul Pogba in midfield and Victor Lindelof in defence. Both have improved markedly under Solskjaer’s calm and sensible management.

Klopp made a decision of his own before the game and that was to leave out Trent Alexander-Arnold and play James Milner at right back. Alexander-Arnold is only just back from injury so it was an understandable call, but it did rob Liverpool of attacking zip down that side. Luke Shaw at left back for United will not have complained.

Elsewhere, Liverpool were simply too predictable. They made a mess of the free-kick given to them by the misunderstanding between Young and De Gea after 50 seconds and that set the tone. Mo Salah — who never plays well against United — drifted a freekick aimlessly over after Herrera barged into Joel Matip and the Liverpool defender then loped forward again to head over from a corner just before half-time.

United were in no rush to commit men forward and that remains a strange sight at Old Trafford. Nevertheless, they had their moments as Romelu Lukaku played in Lingard with the pass of the game — Alisson dashed out to save well — and then the Belgian striker bullied Andy Robertson out of the way to head down and up into the Liverpool goalkeeper’s hands.

The Lingard chance turned out to be the best of the game. The Old Trafford crowd briefly got their blood up in the second half as their team found some momentum, but United really only threatened from free-kicks and the longer the game went on the more attractive a point appeared to feel for Solskjaer’s players. As such they retreated still further to smother Liverpool’s numbers.

On the touchline Klopp looked annoyed and no wonder. This was heavy metal football without the drums and cymbals. Gini Wijnaldum headed a corner wide with 19 minutes left and so did Matip from the one that followed.

But the game was played out against a background of waning intensity. In injury time, when United had a dangerous free-kick, only one central defender, Chris Smalling, went forward and he only after hesitation.

As it turned out, Smalling could have scored. But a goal for anyone on a day like this would have felt quite wrong.