Manchester United put in a shockingly poor display and Liverpool their best game yet under Brendan Rodgers, but it was the Old Trafford club that came out with all three points in their English Premier League game at Anfield, thanks to a Robin Van Persie penalty.
United, who had received three penalties this season already, got their fourth with a little over ten minutes to go, which Van Persie converted to give his side victory. Earlier, Steven Gerrard had opened the scoring for Liverpool, who played nearly an hour with ten men after Jonjo Shelvey received a straight red card, in the first minute of the second half, before Rafael had equalized with a brilliant curler.
The home side were the dominant force at Anfield in the first half, with United barely creating a single chance. The Rodgers ethos of keeping possession and charging down the opponents while they have the ball was in full display, with Luis Suarez having the first chance of the game.
His low drive from the right was well saved by Ander Lindegaard, who was preferred to David De Gea, with nobody from Liverpool able to arrive to slot in the rebound. Gerrard then got even closer, when the captain took a low shot off a nicely worked corner, but saw the strike only hit the side-netting.
Fabio Borini and Surarez had another couple of chances, with Liverpool monopolizing possession, leaving Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa rather isolated; but the lack of cutting edge for the home team was again worrying.
The first defining moment of the game arrived soon after, when Halsey, after conferring with his assistant referee, showed a straight red card to Shelvey, after the midfielder needlessly lunged with his foot a little high on Jonny Evans.
That red card, however, did not tilt the balance of the game, with Liverpool carving out a few more half-chances before half-time.
Sir Alex Ferguson expectedly made some changes to his line-up, bringing on Paul Scholes for Nani, but it was Liverpool again that took control. A cross from substitute Suso, who came on at half-time for the injured Borini, was only half-cleared by the United defense, with Johnson then barging into the box, and seeing the ball cannon off Scholes to Gerrard, who made no mistake, striking a left-footed shot past Lindegaard.
The lead lasted less than five minutes however, with Rafael equalizing off a wonderfully taken left-footed curler, after Kagawa's nicely chested lay-off. If anyone thought that goal would take the wind out of the sails of ten-man Liverpool, they were mistaken. The home side gave as much, if not more, as they got, as Rodgers' side drove forward on more than a few occasions looking for the second goal.
All the good work was undone, however, thanks to a poor call from Halsey. After Danny Welbeck and Rafael went down rather easily, in their previous two games, it was the turn of Antonio Valencia to fall over under minimal contact.
Van Persie stepped up and, expectedly, finished; Liverpool, rather cruelly going down 2-1.
The Reds tried their best to get what would have been a deserved equalizer, but United held on as Ferguson's side, not for the first time and certainly not the last, remarkably pulled out all three points, despite a far from good performance. Rodgers, meanwhile, will be scratching his head wondering what his side has to do to pick up their first win in the English Premier League this season.
