But for erratic finishing from Rooney Birmingham would have departed at half-time on course for their second emphatic reverse in succession. Taylor was forced to confront the marauding United striker twice within a minute as his fellow defenders stood and admired, but they were spared as Rooney dragged both efforts wide and also had a shot blocked by Martin Latka with the visitors in disarray. It was Bruce’s misfortune to confront a United side enjoying their most consistent and exuberant spell of the season. In Giggs and John O’Shea, Ferguson has finally found a makeshift central midfield partnership that serves the team’s more expressive talents and with Louis Saha justifying his place ahead of Ruud Van Nistelrooy with an unselfish contribution United at times delivered an exhibition to mark the opening of 1000 extra seats at Old Trafford. Though Birmingham improved after the interval, Emile Heskey sending one glorious chance high over the bar and Edwin van der Sar foiling Stephen Clemence following a goalmouth scramble, their punishment abated.

In the 82nd minute, however, Rooney made amends for earlier errors and secured a more fitting scoreline when he latched on to a Cristiano Ronaldo header and finally found the target. “I was disappointed with our second-half performance but in the first half we were superb,” said Ferguson. “Perhaps going in at 2-0 encouraged Birmingham, but we are showing great consistency now.” How he must wish they had found it before Chelsea disappeared over the horizon Goals: Taylor (3og) 1-0; Giggs (15) 2-0; Rooney (83) 3-0. Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar; Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Silvestre; Ronaldo, O’Shea, Giggs (Fletcher, 77), Richardson (Park, 39); Rooney, Saha (Van Nistelrooy, 73) Substitutes not used: Howard (gk), Evra. Birmingham City (4-5-1): Taylor; Melchiot (Tebily, 82), Latka, Cunningham, Lazaridis (Bruce, 87); Pennant, Johnson, Jarosik, Clemence, Campbell; Heskey (Kilkenny, 87) Substitutes not used: Vaesen (gk), Forssell Referee: M Dean (Wirral) Booked: Birmingham Latka, Jarosik, Pennant Man of the match: Giggs Attendance: 69,070. Birmingham’s last 10 games * January Sat 14 (A) Charlton L 0-2 Sat 21 (H) Portsmouth W 5-0 * February Wed 1 (A) Liverpool D 1-1 Sat 4 (H) Arsenal L 0-2 Mon 13 (A) West Ham L 0-3 Sat 25 (H) Sunderland W 1-0 * March Sat 4 (A) Middlesbrough L 0-1 Sat 11 (H) WBA D 1-1 Sat 18 (H) Tottenham L 0-2 Sun 26 (A) Man Utd L 0-3.

Great teams, like great players, invariably have to get strong at the broken places, and even if this is loose, premature talk in the cases of both Liverpool and their often inspirational captain, Steven Gerrard, their manager, Rafa Benitez, clearly believes that he has been given the perfect opportunity to make the point. His disdain for the behaviour of Gerrard, who earned two yellow cards and a shameful dismissal in the space of just 35 seconds in the 18th minute of this still unformed derby match, was so sharp it might have provoked an affray in the back streets of his native Madrid.
Later, though, he became almost as gently profound as his countryman Cervantes writing about Don Quixote. Players need, he said, to play with their heart, but also their brain.With the memory of Gerrard’s catastrophic backpass into the path of Thierry Henry still vivid, Benitez was asked if his captain, and a key element in England’s World Cup hopes, was maybe the victim of burn-out. No, suggested the manager, the need was not rest but some self-education in the requirements of professional responsibility.Said Benitez: “You need to use your brain You have to be calm You have to analyse the game as it goes on.

The first booking was a mistake and we can learn about that for the future He knows what he has done He understands I don’t think it is a case of mental burn-out. He made a disciplinary mistake, then a technical one.”He’s a player who has scored 19 times People should not overreact. For me, the most important thing is to realise that this is something we can learn from so that it won’t happen in the future.”Benitez could have put it another way. He could have said Gerrard’s petulant booting away of the ball after a free-kick had been awarded against his team and his brainless lunge at Kevin Kilbane would have been reprehensible in some fledgling star. That it should come from someone who is widely acclaimed as one of the world’s best players, who was captaining a team in a match of huge importance to both his club and the tribal passions of his native city, and, with a final twist of irony, was wearing the shirt number 08 as an ambassador for Liverpool’s year as Europe’s city of culture, was almost beyond comprehension.Later Gerrard could not have been said to have been spectacularly penitent, saying: “I was more disappointed with the first booking than the second one.