Liverpool vs. Manchester United: 5 Things Kenny Dalglish Learned

Liverpool and Manchester United fought out a 1-1 draw at Anfield in Saturday's early Premier League kickoff, with the home team probably feeling that they could and should have gone on to win the match themselves.

Here we take a look at five things today's game will have made prevalent in Kenny Dalglish's mind at the full time whistle.

The Reds only made one change to their last match, with returning captain Steven Gerrard coming in for derby goalscorer Andy Carroll. United, by contrast, left Wayne Rooney, Nani and Javier Hernandez on the bench with Phil Jones taking up a holding midfield role.

Gerrard opened the scoring, only for substitute Hernandez to equalise with just ten minutes left on the clock.

Steven Gerrard Wants To Take on a Central Midfield Role

Steven Gerrard started the game as the furthest forward midfielder of Liverpool's more-or-less 4-1-4-1 system without the ball, though there was certainly more than a little interchanging and linking up with Dirk Kuyt from the right side in the early exchanges.

Later on in the game when Henderson was brought on for Lucas, Gerrard filled a much more central role and performed well, certainly better than either of his two teammates, Lucas and Adam, who also started the game.

Gerrard showed plenty of endeavour and though he, understandably, tired somewhat later on in the game he did not shirk his defensive role even as he sought to help the team find a winner late on in the game.

Right side, second forward or central midfield—the jury is still open as to where Gerrard will play more often than not this term for the Reds, but it certainly looked today as though Gerrard himself wants and believes that he can fill the very centre of the midfield.

The creativity and attacking intent he can provide would be a great plus point for Liverpool—but not against opponents like Manchester United who generally look to take advantage down the flanks and with a deeper forward. That is where Gerrard's central midfield shortcomings are most apparent, but not against the likes of Spurs, Arsenal, Stoke and Swansea who place much more of an emphasis on the roles that their central runners must do.

Against those teams Gerrard has yet to constantly show he can do a job in the centre of the park, but it certainly looked today like he wanted the chance to do so.

Liverpool Still Need More of a Clinical Edge

The game itself, exciting and passionate though it clearly was, did not have a huge number of clear-cut chances in it.

Those that did mainly fell Liverpool's way and it is the failure to finish them off which has ultimately cost the Reds two points against United.

Kuyt had a chance straight after United's equaliser which he should have buried and left de Gea with no chance, while Luis Suarez's effort straight at the Spanish keeper in the first half should also have yielded a better result.

Late on in the game Jordan Henderson directed a free header over the bar from six yards out, while Martin Skrtel should certainly have done better from even closer than whack the ball wildly over the bar after a set piece was not cleared.

United, by contrast, had barely any clear sight of goal for the whole game yet still left Anfield with a point. Those chances must be taken by Liverpool in future games if they are to have any serious aspirations of becoming a top three or four side.

Jose Enrique Is on His Way to Establishing Himself as the EPL's Best Left-Back

Strength, pace, attacking intent, defensive responsibility, firm in the tackle and the stamina to do the whole lot all game long.

Jose Enrique has, without question, been the best of Liverpool's summer acquisitions so far and was certainly a far better performer in today's game than his opposite number, Patrice Evra.

Along with Ashley Cole of Chelsea, those two have been the standard-setters in terms of attacking full-back play over the past few years in the Premier League. But Jose Enrique is proving with every passing match that he can reach those levels with his new club.

One woeful pass which led to a Ji-Sung Park opportunity was his sole error in a game where he sent over several dangerous crosses, was otherwise impervious in defensive situations and won several one-on-one duels chasing back towards his own goal as cover.

Another great performance from the Spanish left-back.

The Reds Need More Training Ground Set Piece Practice; at Both Ends of the Pitch

Centre-back Martin Skrtel will be mentioned twice here, but the duty at both ends of the pitch during set pieces does not fall on him alone.

Liverpool saw several near-opportunities go begging from corner and free-kick deliveries from both Charlie Adam and Steven Gerrard against United, despite Gerrard actually scoring direct from a dead ball situation.

Skrtel wasted arguably the easiest chance of the lot when he skewed well over the bar from close range; but several half-headers, non-connections and not-quite-right runs indicate that at the attacking end, things could get a lot better very quickly for the Reds with a bit more concentration and accurate delivery and finishing.

At the other end, Skrtel lost Hernandez after the Mexican showed good movement from a corner to equalise.

Liverpool's defensive marking system has undergone so many transformations over the past 15 months or so that it is a wonder they know what they're doing at all, but in tight games like this one the slightest error can make a difference and so it proved this time 'round.

A corner that landed right in the middle of Liverpool's penalty box should never have been met by two consecutive away shirts. Both marking and starting positions need to be looked at in more detail.

Midfield Runners Make All the Difference

In the second half Liverpool went through a spell in the match where, for all their possession in and around the centre of the park in midfield, they did not create any significant openings.

One of the causes of this was the lack of penetrating runs from midfield.

Several times when Liverpool looked to launch a counter-attack, the move was held up because of the lack of runners beyond the midfield line. If Kuyt had the ball, Adam would go behind him, Gerrard would go square, Kelly waited behind.

That Martin Skrtel went on an Agger-esque marauding run in the first half owed more to having nobody in the final third to give the ball to as he accelerated through the midfield rather than to his personal preference at trying to take on two, three or four United defenders.

To his great credit, Jordan Henderson (late in the game) did his best to remedy this with several runs off the ball alongside and even beyond Luis Suarez, and this is something that Charlie Adam, though it is alien to his natural game, needs to look at doing once in a while; something that whoever is playing in the wide areas, especially with only one forward up top, need to do more often.