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Kenny Dalglish’s containment and counterattack philosophy works to perfection to land a knockout blow

Charles Reep, Charles Hughes and Graham Taylor, advocates of the more direct route, using fewer passes to reach the opposition’s goal, would have allowed themselves a wry smile at Liverpool’s winner: Pepe Reina, Andy Carroll, Dirk Kuyt, goal. Manchester United dominated possession but Liverpool cleverly dropped off and protected the width of their penalty area more than adequately.

Often the statement is trotted out that the better team lost. But what is the better team? And is it of any consequence? This game was a perfect illustration that controlled possession is not necessarily a recipe for success, unless that superiority is translated into chances and goals. Liverpool deserve credit for a clear plan and philosophy and making substitutions at the right time.

Jamie Carragher, Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard backed off Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who bossed the midfield area. With their sharp touches and movement, they enjoyed much more of the ball. Liverpool’s midfield dropped off, avoiding the trap of playing too high and allowing Scholes and Giggs to play around and beyond them.

Liverpool did not overly attempt to destroy their passing rhythm, their discipline ensuring they defended solidly and played on the break. When Daniel Agger leapt highest to give Liverpool the lead in the first half with David de

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Many emotions coursed through the minds of Liverpool supporters but they would not have included a pang of sympathy for the beaten manager. So jumbled has the football scene become that the late winner in an intense match was not for once the inevitable property of Manchester United. The circumstances, with Patrice Evra badly at fault, might have been dictated by a vengeful Anfield crowd.

The left-back is no innocent party in their eyes, even if an independent commission found only Liverpool’s Luis Suárez guilty of racist abuse in an exchange between the players during a game in October. The eight-match ban encompassed the encounter on Saturday but Evra, the United captain, had to endure punishment on the field. He was barracked throughout, yet the animosity was not based on skin colour.

So far as the home support was concerned, this was traditional antipathy, with the intensity a notch higher than usual. The Liverpool fans even chanted some guidelines. It was explained they were not racist but simply hated “Mancs”. Amid the bedlam and rage, Evra, normally a sound defender, let his concentration snap in the 88th minute.

He took up a position too far towards his left and so created a gap in the middle of the United defence. Andy Carroll met a long ball from his goalkeeper Pepe Reina and glanced it towards Dirk Kuyt, with the substitute’s angled shot finding the right-hand corner of the net. That incident hardly reflected the nature of the match, but there was an insistence to Liverpool that could not be denied.

The comforting prospect of a replay at Old Trafford might have undermined United but there are broader causes behind the defeat. The means available to United are not so great as in times gone by and not even Ferguson will be sure of manipulating them to achieve the desired result. Rio Ferdinand, at 33, cannot appear as regularly as he once did and was an unused substitute.

Paul Scholes acquitted himself admirably but the re-emergence from retirement of a 37-year-old can bring difficulties of its own. The midfielder was positioned in front of the backline and while that prevents him from exercising devilment and imagination on the attack it does allow him to remain on the pitch for longer. However, 90 minutes is still too much and Liverpool’s surge owed something to his substitution with 14 minutes remaining.

Ferguson is obliged to deal in the sort of caution not associated with United. The rate of scoring is still a good one but their firepower can look diminished just when goals are badly needed. United could not achieve anything close to mastery over Basel in the critical Champions League away game and were deservedly eliminated in the group phase.

The injury that ended Nemanja Vidic’s season on that evening in Switzerland has done the sort of damage that cannot be camouflaged. With Wayne Rooney unavailable through injury, Ferguson attempted to get by with just one attacker in Danny Welbeck until the 89th minute, when Dimitar Berbatov was sent on in desperation.

United were the more accomplished side but the impact was small. Liverpool are 16 points adrift of them in the

Liverpool’s devotees have found a season that was going nowhere has suddenly been injected with hope

For the historic clubs there comes a moment when they will not allow themselves to be denied any longer. Liverpool set that process in motion by overcoming Manchester City in the Carling Cup semi-final and now they have removed Manchester United from the FA Cup. The latter success reverberates to a far greater degree.

When Liverpool’s followers look back on the week’s events they will not be so dull as to debate the details. The surge that is pounding through their minds even now is of the momentum that Kenny Dalglish’s side established after the interval here. It was reminiscent of the displays inspired in other days by the beaten manager.

Sir Alex Ferguson is more often associated with the ravenous ambition and limitless endeavour that distinguished Dalglish’s men in the second half. The aftermath now sees the United manager at far greater risk of a trophyless campaign. The tie was not distinguished, but the sheer impetus of Liverpool hinted that their old standing need not be out of reach permanently.

Some aspects of what was, in truth, an unkempt match can be mocked, but the victors will think only of their vindication. The extra energy with which they pummelled their opponents late in the match spoke of a team that realised its moment had come. Andy Carroll was the epitome of that.

Once again he did not score but he helped to settle the outcome by acting precisely as he is supposed to do, glancing the long ball from his goalkeeper, Pepe Reina, into the path of another forward, the substitute Dirk Kuyt, to hit the winner while Patrice Evra was stranded out of position.

If United’s thoughts were drifting towards a replay by that time, most of the crowd would have been in a similar frame of mind. The hosts, however, borrowed from the Old Trafford repertoire by somehow insisting on victory. At such a moment we recognise the fallibility that the leading clubs hide from us most of the time.

It is a little disconcerting to recognise that Paul Scholes, a retiree until his sudden return to the field, was perhaps the most accomplished performer while his stamina held up. United got 75 minutes of the technique and sheer talent that bolsters a side. On this occasion, that did not suffice.

Liverpool were the inexhaustible force. Dalglish did everything in his power to sustain that intensity. The captain, Steven Gerrard, was even sacrificed after 72 minutes so that Craig Bellamy could bring more verve to bear. The latter, so important in sending the team to that Carling Cup final with his goal against City, would help in sustaining the momentum that proved too much for United.

Dalglish, with his sharp and sardonic humour, would shun any hint that he had been masterful, yet he had made the most of the personnel at his disposal. Liverpool are no longer the sort of club that conquers out of habit. Their last major trophy was the FA Cup, in 2006. It will take much more than a result such as this to prove they have been reinstated among the elite. They stand seventh in the Premier League and a return to the Champions League appears improbable for the time being.

In such a situation, a victory over United is invaluable as an instant means of injecting hope and confidence into players and supporters alike. The context alters with a single result. No Liverpool devotee left the ground wondering what the point was of buying Jordan Henderson or, through gritted teeth, having to steel himself not to admit his dissatisfaction with Carroll in the presence of people who are not fans of the club.

Dalglish will be more relaxed and the unavailability of Luis Suárez, who is serving his ban for racist abuse of Evra in an earlier match, was no hindrance. The grandeur of Liverpool in its heyday will not return by natural right, but a win of this character must help galvanise the club. This was one ground where an FA Cup tie was met not with a yawn, but with a roar of triumph.

LiverpoolManchester UnitedKenny DalglishSir Alex FergusonKevin McCarra
guardian.co.uk