COMMENT: So is that it, Liverpool? Is that your level? A drab stalemate at home. Blaming it all on Jose Mourinho. His tactics. His approach. Absolving yourselves of any blame...
It's football's equivalent of 'he made me do it'. Apparently, Mourinho is supposed to open his Manchester United team up. Give Liverpool a free run at David de Gea. When are Liverpool going to change the record?
Jurgen Klopp can't feign surprise. He knew what to expect. This time last year Mourinho, just as he did with Chelsea, took United to Anfield with the same approach. The same system. The same tactics. And Liverpool - again - played straight into his hands.
Nothing's changed. Not on Saturday's evidence. This column has mentioned it before, but it's worth repeating. That April day back in 2014. Steven Gerrard, Demba Ba and all that... among the memories was Mark Schwarzer with the ball at his feet. The Kop on his back. But no Reds player putting him under pressure. Instead, Luis Suarez was there, demanding the Aussie kick it. From the bloody halfway line! It reeked of entitlement. Mourinho's Chelsea was supposed to simply rollover. Hand them the game - and the title. From Saturday's performance, nothing's changed.
The game was there to be won. Liverpool had all the ball. All the chances. But the closest they came was through the lanky Joel Matip. "His bloody big toe!" exclaimed John Aldridge on LFCTV when describing De Gea's wonder save to deny their centre-half. But that's just it. For all the possession, it took a defender to get closest to a winner for the hosts.
Put Romelu Lukaku in a Liverpool shirt and they're winning that game. Forget his performance. Lukaku was as frustrated with the lack of action he saw as the Anfield crowd were with Mourinho's tactics. But he's converting one - if not more - of those chances Liverpool's midfield created over the 90-odd minutes. Liverpool needed a No9. Klopp had two on the bench. A kid, in Dominic Solanke, and the little seen Daniel Sturridge.
“If there is a striker out there which is better than ours or fits better than ours, why shouldn't we do it? We are not crazy," argued Klopp a fortnight ago. "Yes, maybe Harry Kane would have scored one or two of the chances we had, probably yes.
“But he missed chances in other games in other moments of his career. So it's not always about asking for other players. It's to work with what you have and that's what we're doing."
Which really gets at the heart of where Liverpool are tracking today.
Remember all those jibes at United 18 months ago? That it was over for them. They'd never get close to the Fergie era again. Indeed, it was Liverpool which now were the superior club.
But today? Mourinho has transformed them. They're winners again. Players. Top players. Want to play for them. Paul Pogba wasn't lured back to United because of the badge. It was on a promise from his manager. He'd be the first of many. A Galactico every year. Mourinho knows. Great players want to play with great players.
So last year, it was Pogba. This year it was Lukaku. But not before the groundwork had been done with Real Madrid and Alvaro Morata. Liverpool? Klopp? They weren't in for either. But the money was there. They threw over £65m on deadline day at Monaco for Thomas Lemar.
But it's like something's holding them back. Forget Lukaku. Put Jamie Vardy in a Liverpool shirt and where are they sitting now? In the market, he's no £70m player. But on the pitch? At the end of the chances Liverpool are creating? He'd be worth double such a fee. Fernando Llorente. Could he have won Liverpool yesterday's game?
And that's just it. Mourinho identified his team's weaknesses and set about solving them. Immediately. At the same time, Klopp is asking for patience. Defending his players. Their mistakes. Their shortcomings. This isn't the talk of a title challenging club.
But they are. Liverpool, no matter the claims of Jamie Carragher, are set up to win titles. The money is there. They are capable. Well capable. The idea Leicester City can win the league while Liverpool will never do so again - as Carragher has put it - is ridiculous.
Just as it is ridiculous to claim Mourinho was to blame for Liverpool's failure on Saturday. That performance summed up the Liverpool of today. The nearly men. A culture of would 'ave..., could 'ave..., if only...
Character over charm. A point over pleasure. Mourinho, just as he's been in the transfer market, was ruthless on Saturday. It wasn't nice. Nor pretty. But on a day when Chelsea lost at Crystal Palace and Arsenal the same at Watford, in this league it all counts.
That's the ruthlessness which has dragged United back from the abyss. The question for Liverpool is: do you have it in you to do the same? Or is being the courageous loser now the standard?
