Middlesbrough - 0 Liverpool - 0 They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but Liverpool left Teesside thoroughly frustrated by a version of their former counter-attacking game arguably even more cautious than the original.
Blot out the crowd noise and a visitor from Mars would never have guessed Middlesbrough were the home team. As Gerard Houllier lamented: "They are difficult to beat. They retreat quickly, are happy to concede ground and play on the break."
If Liverpool's manager affected an air of resignation, his captain was livid. This, after all, was an afternoon lacking a single shot on target and Steven Gerrard, the game's outstanding individual, knew his colleagues should have done better.
"Middlesbrough is a difficult place to come but if you want the title you've got to win at places like this," he insisted. Not, as Gerrard agreed, that the Championship is exactly looming on the horizon. "We have to be realistic and finishing fourth is the best we can hope for now," he admitted.
"We're desperately unhappy with our position but it's just not happening for us on a consistent basis."
There might not have been quite so much pessimism in his voice had Liverpool been awarded a late penalty when Franck Queudrue, fortunate to have been merely booked for a high, first-half tackle on Gerrard, flattened Florent Sinama-Pongolle with a flailing challenge from behind.
On a day very much about denial, two equally important interceptions, both preventing Michael Owen penalty area incursions, were made by the excellent Colin Cooper who, deputising for Ugo Ehiogu, has been eclipsing even Gareth Southgate in Middlesbrough's central defence these past few weeks.
McClaren's back line has now kept four consecutive Premiership clean sheets, the only problem being that goals at the opposite end are proving almost as rare. "If we didn't have anything on target it wasn't for want of trying," snapped Middlesbrough's manager, who must suspect that Michael Ricketts is perhaps not the striker to make the most of Mendieta's subtly sublime touches and Juninho's clever counter-attacking runs.
He could do worse than ask Ricketts and co to take a close look at the ruthless efficiency of Jonny Wilkinson's kicking technique when, as is their winter habit, the Newcastle Falcons imminently start sharing Middlesbrough's state-of- the-art training facilities.
