Liverpool - 2 Chelsea - 0:There was resignation in the air on Merseyside. Jose Mourinho, grim-faced but almost acquiescent, sat in the bowels of this stadium on Saturday afternoon and shrugged off this defeat as if it had been inevitable. His Chelsea, he suggested, had been as good as beaten from the moment Ricardo Carvalho succumbed to fever on the morning of the match. But more than that it seems, when it comes to pinpointing the end of an era under the Portuguese, this capitulation may prove to have been pivotal.

The league champions still have aspirations of achieving a clean sweep of the cup competitions, domestic and continental, and trail Manchester United by only six points, but their sheen of invincibility has been lost. On this evidence they are not the relentless, ruthless machine they were.

Injuries have deprived them of key personnel, exacerbating splits and inflaming tensions, but even when those players return the world will know that Chelsea are fragile.

This was only Mourinho's ninth defeat in 100 Premiership games in charge, but it was arguably his most significant.

Middlesbrough had run riot against the champions last term, but never before has a game as key as this been surrendered so meekly.

For the manager to emerge from the shambles and talk of inevitability smacked of a defeatist attitude utterly incongruous with what one has come to expect of the self-proclaimed Special One.

His frustration is with Roman Abramovich, absent like his team's conviction, for denying him an opportunity to add to his options in the absence of John Terry, Khalid Boulahrouz and now Carvalho, and for the fact that he is still saddled with Andriy Shevchenko.

Yet no manager in the country has been supported in the transfer market as Mourinho has. His back four and defensive midfielder, the jittery Mikel John Obi, cost more than Liverpool's entire match-day squad.

"Some people always say they didn't have this or that player," said Rafael Benitez. "In our first season we had 10 injuries and we lost games, but there were no excuses.

"Mourinho's a good manager with experience, with character. When you have these problems you must show that you are a good manager. I think he will show that."

As hopeless as Chelsea's makeshift defence were - Michael Essien aside - the hosts were superb. This was a ruthless display born of galloping energy down the flanks and a thrust through the centre which sliced through the befuddled Frank Lampard and the pedestrian Michael Ballack.

Mikel may be a giant of a young man but he is no Claude Makelele and, on this evidence, is not ready for the biggest stage. There was endeavour but no anticipation or instinct to smother the ball, and therefore no effective midfield shield.

If the visitors had arrived wounded by their lack of a recognised centre-back, their hosts soon smelt the blood and sensed an early kill.

The contest was won and lost in its opening quarter, Jamie Carragher's lofted pass flicked on faintly by the unchallenged Peter Crouch for Dirk Kuyt, ignored by the traumatised Geremi, to nod back across Paulo Ferreira and prise an angle on goal.

The Portuguese was prone on the turf, embarrassed already, by the time the striker had steered his shot across Petr Cech and into the net. "We worked for each other as a team," said Kuyt. "That was the big difference between us and them."

That is damning, but accurate.

Ashley Cole's poor positioning and Essien's inability to gain distance on his headed clearance provided the second, Jermaine Pennant collecting just outside the area to rasp his glorious first for the club in off the bar. The goalkeeper, recovered from a fractured skull and wearing protective headgear, still oozes authority but his return had effectively degenerated into an exercise in damage limitation.

There was vague consolation to be had in his smart first-half save from John Arne Riise, and relief at the sight of the Norwegian's 40-yard shot snapping against the bar.

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, who produced a disciplined, controlled midfield display, said afterwards: "It's a massive result, but we still have a lot of work to do. Any result at home is a good one for us but against the champions it's extra special.

"It's a big result for us, but we're still third and we still have a lot to do. All we can do is make sure we do the same things again in the next match."

Asked whether Liverpool were now contenders for the title, Gerrard added: "I don't want to provide any headlines. The gap is still massive but all we can do is concentrate on ourselves and hope for more slip-ups ahead of us."

By the end of the afternoon the Kop was bellowing "Bye bye, Mourinho."

They will hope this really was the beginning of the end.

Guardian Service