The Reds made the short journey down the East Lancs road and with all eyes on two players the game took a back seat but it was United who took all three points after they hit the Reds with two quick goals in the second half.
All of the talk before the game was about Suarez and Evra as you would expect and of course when Suarez chose not to shake the United captains hand there was nearly a kick off. It did at least set an under current to the game though and both players were the subject of booing and cheering throughout.
The Reds got the game started in their white third kit and the Reds went on the attack straight away. Inside the first minute Ferdinand and Evra collided with one another as they both went to keep Suarez from the ball. After a bit of treatment the United centre back was ok to carry on.
After a good first few minutes for the Reds United went on the attack and Valencia won a free kick which Johnson managed to head away for a corner and that was saved easily by Rooney although the United forward had been given far too much room in the box.
On nine minutes the Reds moved forward well and Suarez found Johnson on the right. He moved inside and curled a left footed shot just wide of the target.
On eighteen minutes Rafael forced Reina in to a save after United had attacked once again down their right. Jose Enrique was having a torrid start to the game I have to admit.
As the game went on it was really a case of cat and mouse with neither side creating that clear cut chance.
Then on the half hour mark United broke across the pitch and Giggs picked out Scholes in the box but his header thankfully went straight at Reina who batted it down and it was then hoofed out for a corner.
It gave United a lift it seemed and we were opened up a minute later but Welbeck saw his shot across goal come to nothing.
United were probably the better side overall now but we certainly weren't out of it.
On thirty nine minutes the Reds broke with pace and Suarez strode forward but his ball through for Kuyt was sadly one which Ferdinand got back to. If it had been the other way around Suarez has more pace which Kuyt doesn't.
That suddenly gave the Reds a little impetus and we strode forward with Gerrard seeing his shot deflected over the bar for a corner. We couldn't take advantage though of either that corner or the one that followed.
On forty four minutes Downing became the first yellow card of the day when he slid from a distance to try and stop Rafael in his tracks. He did stop him but sadly without getting anywhere near the ball.
At the other end the Reds so nearly broke clear with Suarez getting past Evra and just as he was about to go clean through Ferdinand managed to push the ball back before bringing him down. I didn't think that until I saw replays later and i wanted Ferdinand off and Suarez certainly did. He was so frustrated he kicked the ball away at the half time whistle which threatened to boil the game over again.
Half time would probably have been all about calming things down from both sides as everyone was getting a little bit wound up over things. It's a game of football and when the whistle goes every player wants to win it's all about leaving that on the pitch.
The second half started with no changes on either side and it was the Reds who were out first.
Just a minute in to the half and we were caught out as United took the lead. They won a corner down their right side and it was played in and after being flicked on Rooney just volleyed home with markers completely absent. The worst possible start for us and with us not really troubling De Gea in the first half that was a worry.
It got ever worse just three minutes later when Spearing lost the ball deep in his own half to Valencia and he played Rooney in and he doesn't need asking twice to finish.
After the two goals against us it really us and our play. Bellamy and Carroll were warming up and surely had to come on sooner rather than later if we were going to try and get something from the game.
On the hour mark the double change came with Carroll replacing Spearing and Bellamy replacing Downing.
As the game was going it kept looking like one of those that if United wanted to batter us they could and that was a worry but an inevitability on the day as we were now chasing two goals to get just a point.
On seventy four minutes the Reds made their third change as Adam came on in place of Kuyt.
On seventy nine minutes Carrick went in to the book when he took Suarez down from behind - he'd been lucky earlier in the game for a similar tackle.
That free kick proved crucial for the Reds as well as the ball was played in and after it fell over Evans it hit Ferdinand and landed for Suarez to poke the ball home.
After the game had looked to be drifting from us it did at this point at least give us some hope again. Up until this point we did look like we had lost a bit of hope really.
The clock was against us now though and that was a major problem at the two we'd conceded so early in the second half. We did have a bit more fight about us now but we couldn't get the play going quite right and we never looked fluid in our attack.
Three minutes were added and Adam won a free kick which Bellamy flighted in and after it was half cleared Johnson saw his shot from outside the box tipped over the bar.
It was just too little too late and if we'd have possibly tried to work their keeper more and earlier we could have got something from the game.
The final whistle finally ended the game and it was all over for the football and although it very nearly kicked off after the match as Evra made sure he celebrated in front of the United fans and right next to Suarez who just ignored him. Suarez ignored him and the Reds players made sure Evra knew their feelings and he ended up having to be held back from the tunnel by the ref.
It was always going to be a massively hyped up match with all eyes on two players and sadly it kind of took away from the match which proved poor generally.
MotM : Glen Johnson - he played well and for many times in the game looked our most likely goal threat.
