LFC 2-0 Man United. Dominic King's verdict

Having spent the last month stuttering and stumbling through a fog induced by a series of wretched results, desperate luck and dispirited performances, suddenly all seems well with the world once more.

There was a feeling that blood was going to be spilt at Anfield yesterday, that Manchester United were going to breeze into town and crank up the pressure on Rafa Benitez to intolerable levels by inflicting a fifth straight defeat on Liverpool.
 
Yet, to adapt the saying made famous by Mark Twain, reports of this grand institution's death are greatly exaggerated; had they been the side that many claimed were engulfed in terminal turmoil, they would not have dismantled their greatest foes with such elan.
 
Some may have feared the worst but any reservations were quickly banished, as the Reds conjured up a display that silenced the doubters, stunned Alex Ferguson and showed why Benitez and his players are never more dangerous than when being written off.

It would, of course, be ridiculous to sit here today and start making predictions that Liverpool are now going to mount a withering charge for the title, simply because they dumped the current holders gleefully and contemptuously on to their backsides.
 
That is one of the problems with the modern game; champ one moment, chumps the next, there is no grey area and the speed with which knee-jerk reactions are made often beggars belief - no club finds itself subjected to such analysis more than Liverpool.
 
So it pays in the moments of stomach-churning lows and dizzying highs to try and find a sense of perspective; should you do that with Liverpool today, you will see a side equipped to be a major player in the top four once again.
 
Yes they have played poorly during October and, as a result, have jeopardised their hopes of both reaching the Champions League knockout stages and pushing for the prize that is coveted most of all but don't all sides endure sticky patches at some point in a campaign?
 
Take United. Somehow it has failed to register with a wide audience they have looked half the side without Cristiano Ronaldo and only a couple of referee rants from Ferguson have deflected the attention away from some decidedly mediocre showings of late.
 
Tottenham, Aston Villa and Manchester City, meanwhile, have been lauded as sides likely to muscle Liverpool out of the Champions League race but results over the weekend show they still have some way to go before such claims becomes realistic.
 
They will all experience blips between now and next May, as will Chelsea, the media's current darlings; they might look good thrashing sides in the bottom half of the table at Stamford Bridge but questions can still be asked about their credentials on the road.
 
Hopefully, then, this result - which was achieved courtesy of second-half goals from Fernando Torres and David Ngog - will ensure Liverpool leave their wobble behind and if they can repeat this showing on a consistent basis, all the better.
 
A show of defiance and togetherness was needed in this match, more so than any other, to put the brakes on what had been a dramatic slide and before the start, it was clear to see that players and supporters were in unison.
 
As the chorus to 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was softly phased out to allow the Kop to bellow the final bars, the 11 men whom Benitez had sent into battle huddled together, on the insistence of goalkeeper Pepe Reina, in one last attempt to focus the mind.
 
How it had the desired effect. Disciplined and determined from first whistle to last, the longer the game progressed with them keeping United at arms' length, the more you could see them growing in belief, rebuilding those battered confidence levels.
 
Had they possessed more of a killer instinct, Liverpool would have won this contest in a canter and, perhaps, been out of sight by the interval, as both Dirk Kuyt and Fabio Aurelio squandered acceptable chances.
 
Fortunately it didn't matter - their flaxen-haired assassin saw to that. Whether he was 100 per cent fit is open to debate but one thing that is never in doubt is Torres' God-given ability to turn half-chances into goals.
 
After sprinting on to a ball by the outstanding Yossi Benayoun, from the moment Torres received possession, Anfield fell under his magic spell.
 
One touch took him away from Rio Ferdinand, his upper body strength then kept the defender at bay and as soon as he settled himself in front of Edwin van der Sar, there was a wonderful inevitability about how this move would end.
 
Cue an explosion of unbridled joy - it was the moment the club as a whole so desperately needed, the confidence it gave to those on the pitch and in the stands was tangible; everyone with a Liver Bird on their chest started believing again.
 
Javier Mascherano, for one, revelled in his role as the Reds' midfield gremlin; such a shame he was sent off. Alongside him, Lucas deserved every bit of praise that came his way and showed great awareness to free Ngog in added time.
 
Behind them, Jamie Carragher played as you would expect with stakes so high, defending Liverpool's goal as if his life depended on it and deserving his slice of luck late on when tangling with Michael Owen.
 
Talking of his class defending, Glen Johnson was a figure of absolute assurance to make a mockery of recent suggestions that he cannot defend, as proven by one superb tackle on Wayne Rooney in added time.
 
Then there was Benayoun. Aside from that majestic through ball to Torres, he flitted here, there and everywhere, determined to wreak as much havoc as possible; few would dispute that he is in the best form of his Liverpool career.
 
The question now is whether he and the team can sustain it, as though this was a hugely satisfying three points, it will stand for nothing if they follow up by taking a backward step at Fulham next Saturday.
 
You get the sense, however, that this was exactly the result that Benitez and company needed to start their fightback; should efforts like this become the norm, crisis talk will soon, thankfully, disappear.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the views or position of Liverpool Football Club.