What will that victory do for confidence at Anfield?
Liverpool desperately needed that win yesterday. They had gone into the game on the back of four successive defeats, which is almost unheard of at Anfield. You had to go back to 1987 for the last time that had happened and go back to 1953 for the last time they had lost five games on the spin.
Liverpool needed a big show of character and the players delivered. It wasn't the most free-flowing football they have produced this season, they have passed the ball better, but it was important that they came through the way they did in such a high-pressure game.
Had they lost you could almost certainly have written off their title challenge for another season, but by winning they are right back in the mix. The most important thing in the short-term was to release the pressure around Anfield. It was becoming almost impossible to deal with and at least the players can go back to trying to get results away from the intense glare that has surrounded the club over the past week or so.
What did the result mean for Rafael Benitez and his future at the club?
No manager is unsackable and Benitez knows that. If Liverpool go another season without winning a trophy, or finish outside the top four, Benitez's position will be called into question again. That is the nature of the job.
But at this stage of the season there was far too much talk about Benitez's position. He had a bad run of results but that is all it was. Nothing had been decided, no trophies had been handed out, no places in next season's Champions League had been decided, so there was no need for that kind of talk at this stage.
Liverpool have never been the kind of club that have had a knee-jerk reaction to problems with their managers - they always take a considered view and as Christian Purslow, the managing director, said yesterday they see him as central to the long-term vision at the club. What they are trying to do now is put the investment in place that will allow him to build on what he has already achieved. No one likes losing games and they don't like to be under pressure - this victory will have been a big release of pressure for Benitez.
Without Steven Gerrard and with Fernando Torres not fully fit it was important the rest of the Liverpool side stood up to be counted. Who caught your eye?
To beat Manchester United everyone has to play well, so the first thing to say is that this was a really good team performance which hasn't been the case in previous weeks.
Having said that, there were a few outstanding individuals for Liverpool yesterday. Jamie Carragher was magnificent. There have been people writing him off in recent weeks which has been ridiculous. He is a top professional and one of the outstanding defenders of his generation. Like every player he will go through bad patches but he is a crucial part of Benitez's Liverpool side.
Yossi Benayoun created the first goal with a wonderful pass. He is growing in stature all the time and is now one of Liverpool's foremost players. He is someone Benitez is looking to, alongside Gerrard and Torres, to make things happen. Elsewhere, Javier Mascherano put in the kind of performance that is expected of him but that he had failed to produce so far this season.
Lucas Leiva was the one player who really stood out but it didn't surprise me. He has received an awful lot of criticism during his time at Anfield but he always works hard for the team, in the nuts and bolts rather than in the flashy stuff, and I thought his display in midfield set the platform for the victory.
What did you make of Sir Alex Ferguson's comments after the game?
When Liverpool won 4-1 at Old Trafford last season, Ferguson said Liverpool hadn't deserved the win but this time he held his hands up and was pretty magnanimous, although he still couldn't help but have a snipe at the referee, Andre Marriner.
Obviously, we know he is in trouble for his comments over Alan Wiley's fitness and yesterday he questioned Marriner's experience. What kind of referee does he want?
There is no such thing as a perfect footballer and that is also the case with referees. Marriner is a promising young referee and the only way to give him the kind of experience he needs is by taking charge of these high profile games. He got most of the big decisions right, the only contentious one was the decision he made not to send off Carragher.
Carragher could have been sent off but Marriner also showed Nemanja Vidic the yellow card when he brought Dirk Kuyt down as last man. He showed consistency in both decisions.
Ferguson's comments about Carragher's challenge on Michael Carrick were a little strange. It was a very forceful challenge but he took the ball. Ferguson only need have looked at his players' reaction for his answer - none of them even looked at the referee.
Apart from the comments about the referee, Ferguson did say Liverpool had deserved to win the game and he deserves credit for that.
Torres gave Rio Ferdinand and Vidic another torrid afternoon. Do United look fragile defensively this season?
That must be a concern for Ferguson. Anyone would want Ferdinand and Vidic in their side but neither looked entirely convincing yesterday. Ferdinand is struggling for form because of his fitness and as soon as he gets match-sharp again I would expect him to start delivering the kind of performances that we expect from him.
Vidic's problems are more psychological. When he sees Torres he almost looks scared of being shown up and when centre backs have that kind of problem with centre forwards it becomes a real problem. Ferdinand and Vidic won't face Torres every week; sometimes you can criticise the defenders too much and not give enough credit to the strikers.
Yesterday's result appears to have opened up the title race again. It promises to be as exciting a season as we have seen in some time.
It's fantastic. Every football fan should really enjoy this because it doesn't happen every season. There will be times when every manager that is challenging for the title will come under pressure because one result can really change things. Teams are winning and losing like never before because all of the teams involved have weaknesses - some of them glaring.
Chelsea have the points on the table at the moment but you can still see their weaknesses when they travel away from home and concede from set plays. They will also lose some key players to the African Nations Cup after Christmas.
United have shown weaknesses of their own and Liverpool's are well documented. It all makes for a fascinating season and there will be plenty more twists and turns to come.
Liverpool desperately needed that win yesterday. They had gone into the game on the back of four successive defeats, which is almost unheard of at Anfield. You had to go back to 1987 for the last time that had happened and go back to 1953 for the last time they had lost five games on the spin.
Liverpool needed a big show of character and the players delivered. It wasn't the most free-flowing football they have produced this season, they have passed the ball better, but it was important that they came through the way they did in such a high-pressure game.
Had they lost you could almost certainly have written off their title challenge for another season, but by winning they are right back in the mix. The most important thing in the short-term was to release the pressure around Anfield. It was becoming almost impossible to deal with and at least the players can go back to trying to get results away from the intense glare that has surrounded the club over the past week or so.
What did the result mean for Rafael Benitez and his future at the club?
No manager is unsackable and Benitez knows that. If Liverpool go another season without winning a trophy, or finish outside the top four, Benitez's position will be called into question again. That is the nature of the job.
But at this stage of the season there was far too much talk about Benitez's position. He had a bad run of results but that is all it was. Nothing had been decided, no trophies had been handed out, no places in next season's Champions League had been decided, so there was no need for that kind of talk at this stage.
Liverpool have never been the kind of club that have had a knee-jerk reaction to problems with their managers - they always take a considered view and as Christian Purslow, the managing director, said yesterday they see him as central to the long-term vision at the club. What they are trying to do now is put the investment in place that will allow him to build on what he has already achieved. No one likes losing games and they don't like to be under pressure - this victory will have been a big release of pressure for Benitez.
Without Steven Gerrard and with Fernando Torres not fully fit it was important the rest of the Liverpool side stood up to be counted. Who caught your eye?
To beat Manchester United everyone has to play well, so the first thing to say is that this was a really good team performance which hasn't been the case in previous weeks.
Having said that, there were a few outstanding individuals for Liverpool yesterday. Jamie Carragher was magnificent. There have been people writing him off in recent weeks which has been ridiculous. He is a top professional and one of the outstanding defenders of his generation. Like every player he will go through bad patches but he is a crucial part of Benitez's Liverpool side.
Yossi Benayoun created the first goal with a wonderful pass. He is growing in stature all the time and is now one of Liverpool's foremost players. He is someone Benitez is looking to, alongside Gerrard and Torres, to make things happen. Elsewhere, Javier Mascherano put in the kind of performance that is expected of him but that he had failed to produce so far this season.
Lucas Leiva was the one player who really stood out but it didn't surprise me. He has received an awful lot of criticism during his time at Anfield but he always works hard for the team, in the nuts and bolts rather than in the flashy stuff, and I thought his display in midfield set the platform for the victory.
What did you make of Sir Alex Ferguson's comments after the game?
When Liverpool won 4-1 at Old Trafford last season, Ferguson said Liverpool hadn't deserved the win but this time he held his hands up and was pretty magnanimous, although he still couldn't help but have a snipe at the referee, Andre Marriner.
Obviously, we know he is in trouble for his comments over Alan Wiley's fitness and yesterday he questioned Marriner's experience. What kind of referee does he want?
There is no such thing as a perfect footballer and that is also the case with referees. Marriner is a promising young referee and the only way to give him the kind of experience he needs is by taking charge of these high profile games. He got most of the big decisions right, the only contentious one was the decision he made not to send off Carragher.
Carragher could have been sent off but Marriner also showed Nemanja Vidic the yellow card when he brought Dirk Kuyt down as last man. He showed consistency in both decisions.
Ferguson's comments about Carragher's challenge on Michael Carrick were a little strange. It was a very forceful challenge but he took the ball. Ferguson only need have looked at his players' reaction for his answer - none of them even looked at the referee.
Apart from the comments about the referee, Ferguson did say Liverpool had deserved to win the game and he deserves credit for that.
Torres gave Rio Ferdinand and Vidic another torrid afternoon. Do United look fragile defensively this season?
That must be a concern for Ferguson. Anyone would want Ferdinand and Vidic in their side but neither looked entirely convincing yesterday. Ferdinand is struggling for form because of his fitness and as soon as he gets match-sharp again I would expect him to start delivering the kind of performances that we expect from him.
Vidic's problems are more psychological. When he sees Torres he almost looks scared of being shown up and when centre backs have that kind of problem with centre forwards it becomes a real problem. Ferdinand and Vidic won't face Torres every week; sometimes you can criticise the defenders too much and not give enough credit to the strikers.
Yesterday's result appears to have opened up the title race again. It promises to be as exciting a season as we have seen in some time.
It's fantastic. Every football fan should really enjoy this because it doesn't happen every season. There will be times when every manager that is challenging for the title will come under pressure because one result can really change things. Teams are winning and losing like never before because all of the teams involved have weaknesses - some of them glaring.
Chelsea have the points on the table at the moment but you can still see their weaknesses when they travel away from home and concede from set plays. They will also lose some key players to the African Nations Cup after Christmas.
United have shown weaknesses of their own and Liverpool's are well documented. It all makes for a fascinating season and there will be plenty more twists and turns to come.
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