THE Premiership title seems likely to go to the first club that is able to eradicate the perennial menace of inconsistency, a problem now threatening to introduce a sense of farce to this season's grand scramble.

Whether the glittering prize will rest at Anfield next May remains to be seen, yesterday's dismal performance posing more questions than it answered.

Certainly, in carelessly spilling yet more home points, Liverpool were guilty of many things, primarily unforgivable lethargy.

"Obviously I am disappointed because we never really got going. We did look a bit tired out there today," Liverpool's manager, Roy Evans, said.

The Premiership has been awash with Cinderella clubs these past five years, the suspicion being that unless Martin O'Neill's Leicester side accepts, swiftly and collectively, that it is where it is on merit and not by courtesy of someone else's generosity, they will find it is midnight almost before they know it.

But there is much to be said for a team that arrives on Merseyside and tries to outpass Liverpool. There were countless mistakes of course but then again, trying to move the ball from one penalty area to the other without recourse to the ugly tactics of the less gifted is never easy.

With Steve McManaman's effectiveness dramatically lessened by the dogged persistence of his afternoon-long attendant, Colin Hill, Liverpool were strangely subdued and seemingly uncertain about whether they should grab the game by the scruff of its neck or employ traditional patience.

That sense of confusion so diluted their natural aggression that only once in the first quarter did they threaten to puncture a Leicester back line that made the most of the absence of Robbie Fowler, missing because of an ankle injury.

Patrik Berger may be an adequate replacement in some respects but neither he nor Stan Collymore are penalty-area predators and as Jason McAteer and Stig Inge Bjornebye drilled crosses into the six-yard box you could almost hear the Leicester defenders cackling in delight.

Just once in the opening half an hour did Liverpool find a way through and that was after 75 seconds, when Kaamark's naivety prompted him to leave his headed back pass well short of its intended target.

Collymore danced clear but his shot was under-hit, poorly directed and gathered by the goalkeeper, Kasey Keller, at the second attempt.

Thereafter it all became too intricate as both sides worked hard to prop up the theory that football is a simple game made complicated by those that consider themselves accomplished practitioners.

The gradual reduction in Leicester's already infrequent attacks apart, the game's make-up altered so very little as the daylight faded and the temperature plunged.

What fireworks there were, were to be lit late on. With 14 minutes left, at a point when many had abandoned hope and were drifting towards the exits, Leicester had the temerity to score.

Neil Lennon's blocked shot fell fortuitously for Steve Claridge but his finish was exemplary, a low, right-foot drive that drifted just inside a post.

Had the glee of moving in front so late not served to briefly shatter their concentration Leicester would probably have gone on to win. They did not because three minutes later they allowed Collymore to exchange passes with Mark Wright before steering in from close range.

"We were not in front long enough to actually enjoy it," O'Neill said. "We put in a phenomenal amount of effort today. The players are delighted and I am ecstatic."

"I did not tell Colin Hill that he would be marking McManaman until shortly before kick-off. McManaman is such a top-class player that had I told Colin yesterday the job I had in mind for him he probably wouldn't have turned up," he added.