By then, Middlesbrough were in charge. Chris Riggott put them ahead in the first half and Bolo Zenden added another to end any prospect of a Gerrard-inspired revival by Liverpool and leave Middlesbrough unbeaten in seven Premiership games. Middlesbrough thoroughly deserved their success after controlling most elements of the match and Benítez' complaints about crucial refereeing decisions had a hollow ring.
The Liverpool manager was particularly unhappy about a disallowed first-half strike from Javier Luis García, who was standing in an offside position when the ball diverted to him off a Middlesbrough player. Benítez said: 'I have seen the TV replay and it was a goal - it's as simple as that. The ball came off a Middlesbrough player. These sort of decisions change games.'
Liverpool also claimed Zenden was offside when he scored and it was certainly a borderline decision by the assistant referee. 'I'm not sure about that one,' said Benítez. 'Perhaps it was a little offside. I don't like to talk about refereeing decisions, but they are very important.'
By coincidence, an on-target strike by Zenden was cruelly disallowed for offside when Liverpool beat Middlesbrough in the Carling Cup earlier this month. Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren said: 'Decisions went for Liverpool in the cup and here they went for us. That's football.'
In truth, luck had little to do with Middlesbrough's victory. The width created by Stewart Downing and Ray Parlour constantly stretched Liverpool's makeshift defence, in which Jamie Carragher did not look comfortable alongside Sami Hyypia. The pair created several chances before Middlesbrough deservedly took the lead after 36 minutes.
Downing's cross should have been dealt with, but Riggott was granted an extraordinary amount of space in front of goal and he steered the ball past Chris Kirkland for his first goal of the season. Garcia's disallowed goal lifted the temperature of a disappointing game in the closing stages of the first half when Mark Viduka should have extended Middlesbrough's lead.
Liverpool's reaction to such a feeble first half was predictable and Gerrard soon replaced the anonymous Dietmar Hamann. He linked up with a team that had shown some improvement in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Harry Kewell certainly thought he had equalised inside two minutes with a close-range header that his fellow Australian Mark Schwarzer turned over after it bounced awkwardly in front of him.
'That was a defining moment,' said McClaren. 'It was a magnificent save and it might have been a different game if he had scored.' Liverpool's threatened revival was effectively killed off by the controversial second goal after 61 minutes. Downing intercepted Xabi Alonso's poor pass and found Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, whose pass was superbly collected by Zenden and steered past Kirkland.
Substitute Florent Sinama Pongolle and Kewell wasted chances late in the game, but Liverpool never seriously threatened Middlesbrough, whose confidence remains intact as they head to Spain this week for their Uefa Cup tie against Villareal.
McClaren said: 'I have to be pleased because we played some very good football. We have made a good start and we are in the top four on merit, but we won't get carried away. If we are in the same position with 10 games to go, I might start to get excited.'