Apparently Liverpool are not playing like champions. Presumably the entertainers down the road at Old Trafford, saturated in success, are. "Hey, lads," hollered one fan at the emptying press box here. "Do you know how to spell boring? C-l-a-s-s." He had a point, though he was probably screaming it at the wrong people.
The red half of Merseyside warmed to a third successive Premiership win and clean sheet on Saturday, extending Liverpool's unbeaten league run to 11 games. Forget the jibes that they are just one-dimensional grinders. They are professional, technically outstanding and even threw in a shot or two of the spectacular against Middlesbrough; of such stuff, championships are made.
"They are the team to beat this season," the visitors' England defender Gareth Southgate said. "Inevitably, power shifts do happen. All the success was with Liverpool in the 70s and 80s and that sort of dominance does not go on forever. The way Manchester United have played in recent weeks has opened it up, but Liverpool's side has emerged over the last couple of seasons and they don't give anything away and can score goals out of nothing."
In truth, Liverpool have always built their success on patiently retaining possession, conscious that if they had the ball they could not be hurt. Graeme Souness admitted his own generation may have pinged their passes and compressed their play a bit further up the pitch.
Teams arrive at Anfield these day quaking at the prospect of Michael Owen charging into space beyond their rearguard and burning down on goal, so Middlesbrough worked feverishly to sit deep and douse that threat. It worked. Not once did the England striker skip on to a through ball and home in on goal, but Liverpool are shrewder than that.
Danny Murphy calmly gave Szilard Nemeth the runaround in his own penalty area, spread the play to Gary McAllister and Jan Arne Riise before Patrik Berger's neat lay-off was smashed emphatically into the bottom right-hand corner by Owen from 25 yards.
That was his 99th goal for the club in just 180 appearances and, given Middlesbrough's stodgy forward play, effectively settled this contest. Just in case, Berger made sure with a long-range curler.
Middlesbrough were solid in defence but never had a sniff at goal. "The Liverpool players seem to have a belief amongst themselves. You can see it when we meet up on England trips nowadays. Everything is in place here for them to win the league but, though Arsenal and Leeds will also have a major say in things, Liverpool are a bit further ahead in their development," Southgate added.
LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Henchoz, Hyypia, Carragher, Riise, Murphy, Berger, Hamann, McAllister, Owen (Heskey 77), Litmanen. Subs Not Used: Gerrard, Kirkland, Biscan, Wright. Goals: Owen 27, Berger 45.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Crossley (Beresford 18), Southgate, Ehiogu, Cooper, Queudrue, Mustoe, Greening, Ince, Johnston (Wilson 45), Boksic, Nemeth (Ricard 45). Subs Not Used: Okon, Gavin. Booked: Queudrue, Cooper.
Referee: D Gallagher (Oxfordshire).
