Leeds - 0 Liverpool - 1 When David O'Leary begins his claim for unfair dismissal against Leeds today, nothing may be so damning as the league table. Liverpool will enjoy the view from the top but this is Leeds's worst position for 21 months and the chants in honour of his predecessor show just how bad things are getting for Terry Venables.
Football is a far more unforgiving and impatient business now than when Venables began his nomadic managerial life and, behind the ciabatta tan and fixed smile, he was clearly as dismayed by this brief yet damaging show of mutiny as he was by the winning contribution of Liverpool's Salif Diao.
It was one thing to hear the Leeds fans railing at the apparent ostracism of David Batty, but it was the strident cries of "O'Leary, O'Leary" that announced, with about as much subtlety as a sledgehammer, the lowest ebb of what, for Venables, has been a difficult re-acclimatisation.
In mitigation, his antennae also picked up an equally voluble attempt by other fans to shout down O'Leary's sympathisers. He is not the first manager, nor will he be the last, to find himself having to appeal for more patience.
It seems like a trick of the mind now that a defeat years ago for Manchester United at home to Crystal Palace saw a banner unfurled in the old Scoreboard End: "Three years of excuses and we're still crap - tara, Fergie."
Perhaps, shown more tolerance, Venables will be able to pull off a similar trick, but for the time being, amid elephantine debts and a potentially mutinous backdrop, Leeds are treading water. They have not won a league match for almost six weeks and have lost five of their 10 league games.
"Everyone around the club seems to be expecting too much," said Venables, sounding distinctly less ambitious than when he succeeded O'Leary four months ago. "It's a transitional period and maybe some people need a reality check."
He had heard the chants. "There's nothing I can do about it. You have to be strong enough to take it. You would prefer everyone to be with you but if they're not, we'll have to fight that too." Where Venables lost the neutrals' sympathy was with his prolonged declarations that Leeds had "battered" their opponents, had been "easily the best side" and had lost apparently by some strange quirk of fate.
Liverpool, indeed, did concede more chances than they created and Harry Kewell's header did hit the woodwork, but it was a match that illustrated the depth of Gerard Houllier's resources.
Deprived of Steven Gerrard, Stephane Henchoz and Emile Heskey, and with Michael Owen on the bench as a precaution going into tomorrow's Champions League match at Spartak Moscow, the side in red still retained its solidity and composure before picking off their opponents, Diao turning in El Hadji Diouf's deflected centre as an air of inevitability descended upon Elland Road.
Watching Liverpool it is easy to imagine that Houllier models his teams on German sides of World Cups gone by. Only very occasionally are there moments of outstanding individual brilliance yet his Liverpool are so methodical, so efficient and so organised that it should come as no surprise they are the last unbeaten side in the Premiership.
In Diao, Houllier also believes he has a player comparable to Arsenal's Patrick Vieira, even if the Senegal international has found his opportunities limited since joining.
LEEDS Utd: Robinson, Mills, Woodgate, Lucic, Harte, Bowyer, Barmby, McPhail (Dacourt 75), Bakke, Smith (Viduka 56), Kewell. Subs Not Used: Martyn, Kelly, Duberry. Booked: Harte.
LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Riise, Murphy, Hamann, Diao, Cheyrou, Baros (Owen 69), Diouf. Subs Not Used: Babbel, Smicer, Arphexad, Biscan. Booked: Carragher, Diouf. Goals: Diao 66.
Referee: S Dunn
