EPL: United pay the penalty

UK - David Moyes will do well to survive this.

Manchester United's supporters will accept a difficult first season under the Scot.

They will accept a year without Champions League football.

But they will find it very, very difficult to accept a heavy defeat at home by a markedly superior Liverpool team.

Two penalties, both beautifully dispatched by Steven Gerrard, separated the two teams on the scoreboard by the 46th minute.

Another was smashed against the post in the 78th minute by Gerrard.

Luis Suarez scored a third shortly afterwards. As awful as this was, it could easily have been worse.

Liverpool were faster, smarter and more precise.

United were sluggish, unimaginative and reckless.

At one end, Suarez and Daniel Sturridge pulled their markers all over the pitch, feasting on the passes supplied by Jordan Henderson, Joe Allen and Raheem Sterling.

At the other, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney drifted in and out of the game, rarely troubling Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel.

Juan Mata and Adnan Januzaj were peripheral figures.

They were drab and unthreatening, much as they have been all season.

There was no gentle build-up to this game.

Full Speed

Liverpool began at full speed, pressing United in their own half, eagerly trying to force mistakes and, for the most part, succeeding.

Rodgers used Sterling in a central role, hoping that his pace could cause problems between the lines.

It worked well. Marouane Fellaini was left to marshal him, more often than not looking like a large dog vainly attempting to catch a frog in his jaws.

No quarter was asked and none was given.

Gerrard and Phil Jones hurled themselves into one early 50-50 ball, with the Liverpool captain coming off best, leaving his England teammate dazed on the floor.

Moments later, van Persie hit John Flanagan like a sledgehammer, earning a rapturous round of applause.

But, while Liverpool maintained that aggression, United slowly waned.

Liverpool could easily have taken the lead as early as the third minute, when a beautiful pass from Henderson set Sturridge free in the penalty area, but the England striker could only lash his shot wide.

Another chance went begging in the 20th minute, when Suarez sent another luscious through-ball his way.

Sturridge's first touch was sublime, turning and making space.

His second was ridiculous, a scuffed, weak shot that rolled into David de Gea's arms.

Liverpool finally broke the deadlock from the penalty spot.

Rafael's instinctive swipe at the ball in the penalty area gave referee Mark Clattenburg his easiest decision of the day.

Suarez and Henderson begged him to send the Brazilian fullback off, given that he had been booked only moments earlier, but he was right to ignore them.

Not every hand-ball is a cautionable offence. United were punished anyway.

Despite the desperate distraction from the Stretford End, Gerrard made no mistake from the spot.

Within the first minute of the second half, Clattenburg pointed to the spot again, this time punishing Jones for a shove on Allen. Again, Gerrard hit the back of the net.

United rallied, in so much that they started to dominate possession, but still struggled to create chances.

Listless

A listless van Persie header that flew wide summed up their day.

And then, with time running out, United gave away their third penalty.

Unlike the first two, it was harsh. Sturridge appeared to dive and Nemanja Vidic was dismissed.

Unlike the first two, Gerrard missed the target, hitting the post.

With a legitimate shout for a fourth penalty ignored and a Suarez shot miraculously saved by de Gea, it seemed that United might escape with at least a smidge of dignity.

Suarez's 85th-minute goal removed that possibility. Of all the people to rub salt in the wound at Old Trafford, it had to be him.

The final whistle arrived like a bloodsoaked towel hurled too late into the ring.

Moyes trudged off the field, past the United supporters who have backed him so generously, although their loyalty has not been repaid.

In a season punctuated by new lows, this is surely as bad as it can get.

Moyes is in serious trouble.

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