Today?s result was the difference between pretenders and contenders. Simple as that. For anyone who seriously believes that Liverpool can win the title this year ? and there must be a few dunderheads out there ? Manchester United?s victory was a salutary lesson in how big games, and titles, are won.

In the early years of Gerard Houllier?s reign, we used to specialise in winning against the big boys. The 1-0 win at Old Trafford (great free kick Danny) in December 2000, our first at the ?Theatre? for a decade, springs immediately to mind, as does the 4-0 thumping of Arsenal a week later.

Now it would seem that with ?defensive? Liverpool consigned to the past, we cannot cut it with any of the big guns in the Premiership. Our three home defeats (so much for improved form at Anfield this season) have come against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, which suggests that in pure head-to-heads we cannot compete.

And as with the relegation battle, it?s beating the teams around you that matters. It?s alright hoping that Arsenal slip up somewhere but that result is beyond Liverpool?s control.

The only surefire way of stopping them increasing their lead is to beat them when we play them. That we?ve not done so, coupled with failure against the league?s lower lights, has meant that a 13-point gap is not flattering on Arsenal. It is, however, damning on us.

For all our attacking play, we have only scored eight goals in six games at home. We even managed to give Glenn Hoddle?s Spurs their first clean sheet since January. We?ve beaten Leicester and Leeds, two teams you?d expect to be in the bottom five come (what) May, Everton and Fulham and Blackburn ? only Fulham are excelling among that sorry lot.

We?ve lost seven of our last 14 league games. We?ve not kept a clean sheet in the league since August?s Mersey derby. And five defeats by early November is quite dreadful.

The manager can argue that the team is moving in the right direction and, as I wrote in a previous article, football-wise we are. But while the team?s style is more expansive, the results are just not there.

I?m not asking for a return to the days of nicking games and tedious football but points are not given for artistic merit or shots on target, two elements of the game that Houllier holds in worryingly high esteem. Three months into the season and we are playing for the final Champions League spot again ? anyone happy with that ?

Judging from the consensus of the pro-Houllier brigade, the attractive football he?s got us playing will inevitably lead to consistent wins and inevitably to the title. He just needs more time. More time ? How about more money too ?

When the clouds gathered over the ill-advised Houllier-Evans joint management in November 1998, most fans agreed Evans? time was up. He?d had five years and won nothing but the Coca-Cola Cup.

I have a feeling the League Cup is now Houllier?s main bargaining tool with the board ? ?give me more time, I will give you more silverware.? At least Evans had the decency to know when his time was up. Houllier is swimming against the tide, with no-one to throw him a life preserver.

There are only so many defeats and so many excuses that even our most patient of boards can take. Some fans have seen the light, some fans refuse to look. The glare is blinding ? I have had enough.

Neale Graham