It was a performance from Manchester United that has been a long time in the making and, for Steven Gerrard, another personal ordeal in an expanding file. Not as harrowing, perhaps, as the one that means Anfield is now subjected to chants of "you nearly won the league", but still to be filed among the more incongruous moments of all those fine years in Liverpool's colours. Gerrard badly let down his team-mates and for a player of his distinction that will be the hardest thing to take.

Perhaps it was the taunting from the away end that got under his skin. Or more likely it was the knowledge that his team were being outplayed and this would be the last time he could ever influence one of these occasions. Gerrard had barely worked up a bead of sweat by the time he was on his way back down the tunnel. There wasn’t a scuff of dirt on his kit. But the occasion – his last Liverpool-United fixture, starting on the bench, with his team desperately needing him to sprinkle the game with some of his old magic – undoubtedly got to him.

A half-time substitute, he had been on the pitch 38 seconds when Ander Herrera slid in and clipped his ankles. Gerrard dealt out his own retribution, bringing down his studs on Herrera's shin while the Spaniard was on the ground. The referee, Martin Atkinson, sent the Liverpool captain off and Anfield blinked, rubbed its eyes and tried to take in a sending-off that, to put it into context, was crazier and more self-defeating than anything Mario Balotelli has done this season.

Balotelli, another substitute, had to be restrained later on by some quick-thinking supporters as he tussled with Chris Smalling by the touchline. The Italian had been booked within 90 seconds of coming on and those supporters probably spared their team from going down to nine men. We expect this kind of brainstorm from Balotelli. But Gerrard? He did at least apologise after the match but it was a gross dereliction of duty and that lack of control seemed contagious. Martin Skrtel could conceivably face retrospective action for the stamp on David de Gea that engulfed the match in more controversy at the end.

A man down, Liverpool actually played with great togetherness in an attempt to pull off an improbable feat of escapology. Juan Mata’s brilliant second goal arrived just before the hour and at that stage Liverpool might have been excused for thinking the game had become an exercise in damage-limitation. Instead, they came back in a way that threatened to spike United’s most rounded performance of the season.

Bad-tempered finish

Daniel Sturridge

halved the lead after 69 minutes and United had to withstand some awkward moments before Simon Mignolet saved Wayne Rooney’s stoppage-time penalty and the chaotic, bad-tempered finish.

There is no doubt, however, that on the balance of play the better team won. Mata was superb, with Herrera not far behind, whereas Liverpool’s lack of discipline was accompanied by some of the flaws that undermined them earlier in the season. De Gea might be aggrieved about being beaten at his near post by Sturridge’s shot but it was a slick and controlled performance that leaves United firmly established in fourth position, only a point behind Arsenal and two short of Manchester City.

The first half in particular was Van Gaal's team playing in a way that has rarely been seen since he took the job. "We played Liverpool off the pitch," was the Dutchman's assessment and Brendan Rodgers did not argue. "He [Gerrard] was probably frustrated; we didn't make a tackle." In better times, Gerrard would have found another way. There would have been a crunching tackle, a long-range shot or a driving run, something choreographed to bring the crowd to its feet and lift his team-mates.

There was no real mitigation. It was, however, easy to understand if Gerrard was burning with frustration. Just before the half-hour, one statistic flashed up that Mignolet had touched the ball more times (10) than Jordan Henderson (eight). Henderson was overwhelmed in a way that, ironically, must have made the home crowd crave Gerrard’s presence. Raheem Sterling was out of position and out of sorts. Joe Allen was another who let the game pass him by and, defensively, there were some startling moments of carelessness, all the way until Emre Can brought down Daley Blind for United’s late penalty.

Marouane Fellaini’s opponents found him a difficult man to tangle with. Blind and Antonio Valencia pushed up from the full-back positions. Herrera played in a way that made it feel absurd he has found it so difficult to get a place in the team and Mata looked absolutely determined to shape the match from his new position, in Van Gaal’s words, as a “false right-winger”.

His first goal was clinical in its execution and classy in its creation but the second was a thing of beauty, a scything volley after exchanging passes with Ángel di Maria, launching himself into the air and making the perfect connection to volley the ball into the far corner. It was a Mark Hughes-type special, albeit left-footed.

Incensed Liverpool’s supporters were incensed shortly before that Phil Jones was not sent off for a late challenge on Henderson but it was probably a shade between a yellow and a red – a shade of orange, perhaps – and the home side’s real problem stemmed from not passing the ball or defending well enough

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Alberto Moreno’s positioning for Mata’s first goal was a case in point. Skrtel was not in line with the other centre-backs and Herrera’s pass was beautifully weighted for Mata to finish with an equally precise shot in off the post. Liverpool, as Rodgers said, needed Gerrard. The old Gerrard, that is, not the one who lasted 38 seconds. Guardian Service