But the man who was accused of being a closet United supporter failed to repeat last year's fiasco and made the cardinal error of awarding a penalty to the away team, infuriating the United boss in the process.
"We had an over fussy referee who made it a game in which both sets of players could never get into it because it was too stop-start," blasted a red-faced Ferguson.
"Everyone is criticising Liverpool at the moment but this was a good result for Gerard. He has the best record of all the Liverpool managers who have brought teams here."
