The banner unfurled provocatively among the visiting fans taunted: "Liverpool - 30 miles from greatness." Not that those traumatised individuals on the Kop, struggling to comprehend Emile Heskey's injury-time miss, needed a reminder of the gulf still to be bridged.

Where once Gerard Houllier, in the spring of 2001, insisted his side were 10 games from greatness, Liverpool is now choked by frustration. It is five years almost to the day since the Frenchman took sole charge here; with the top three having left Anfield after celebrating narrow victories, Houllier has grown used to the regular disappointing drill.

"Realistically we are playing for fourth place, but football is strange," he said, a fifth league defeat leaving his side 13 points from the top and 11 from United. And, though Liverpool still play with a verve hinting at a revival, there has been a solitary clean sheet in 12 games. "It may sound strange, I told my players at the end that we are definitely improving. We are definitely going somewhere.

"There has been a watershed here and we are playing with a new style. I'll keep going because I think this is the future. There's a fine margin between success and failure, and luck is not on our side. But we have to keep strong mentally and it will go our way. Though I expect I'll be reading about Martin O'Neill again now."

Houllier's position is under no greater threat this morning than it was last week with Liverpool arguably denied a legitimate penalty, even if TV replays were inconclusive as to whether Rio Ferdinand made real contact with Florent Sinama-Pongolle.

"It would have been given (to United) at Old Trafford," said the Frenchman, though more important was Heskey's miss near the end. "It's frustrating and

. . . my players were a bit hard done by today."

Even so, this was United's third successive victory over bitter rivals, their first-half sloppiness shrugged aside by Ryan Giggs's double. Merseyside has grown used to Mancunian dominance and, with confirmation Alex Ferguson expects this week to sign a new three- year contract worth a total of £15-million-plus, hard times may linger on."We're still working on how long I should stay on, but I'd think it will be until I'm 65," said United's manager.

That will cheer the new chief executive David Gill while dismaying United's title rivals. The odds on Liverpool securing a first championship since 1990 lengthened to 66 to 1 last night.