How Fergie managed to walk away with a Point from Anfield?

Liverpool and Manchester United had to settle for a point each after a 1-1 draw between the great rivals at Anfield on Saturday. A game that will not be remembered as a classic did not spark into life until Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard gave the hosts the lead with a free-kick in the 68th minute. United substitute Javier Hernandez then levelled with a header from close range nine minutes from time.

Sir Alex Ferguson will be the more content manager after he picked a surprisingly weak line-up, most notably leaving out Wayne Rooney as United looked to take the sting out of Liverpool after three defeats in a row at Anfield.High-profile errors at the start of his Manchester United career prompted doubts over whether replacing Edwin Van der Sar with 20-year-old David De Gea was the right decision. The Spaniard, however, is now growing into the United No.1 shirt – literally and figuratively – to prove why Sir Alex Ferguson spent £18.3 million (€21m) on securing one of the best young goalkeepers in world football. 

It would be pernickety to suggest De Gea still looked vulnerable under high balls given the role he played in securing a point for United. In the first half, he kept his concentration and stayed big to deny Luis Suarez while he made two late athletic saves to first keep out Dirk Kuyt at the back post and then claw away Jordan Henderson's volley.

“I saw in the press that De Gea has struggled, but he certainly didn't struggle today, he made a couple of fantastic saves,” said Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish after the game. ir Alex sprung a huge surprise in his team selection by dropping Wayne Rooney because his star striker was “devastated” by the three-match ban that will keep him out of the group stage of Euro 2012. 

Yet it wasn't just Rooney who was snubbed as Javier Hernandez, Nani and Anderson all joined him on the substitutes' bench as Sir Alex picked a starting line-up predominantly to stop Liverpool, who had won the previous three matches between the sides at Anfield. United lacked bite and fight in those defeats so Sir Alex shored up the midfield by picking a defensively minded team, including Phil Jones in midfield, to stifle Liverpool and cut off the supply to Suarez. 

From a tactical point of view, it worked, and Ferguson was able to bring his attacking players off the bench to make United far more of an attacking threat in the last 20 minutes. It paid off as Hernandez stole in to nod home the equaliser nine minutes from time. 

Dalglish, for his part, picked arguably his strongest starting XI and didn't have the options at his disposal to be tactically flexible. Jordan Henderson performed well as a substitute but Liverpool didn't have any obvious options to up their game. (www.goal.com)