David O'Leary has rightly won plaudits for the way he is reshaping Leeds United as a team for the future.

But the genial Irish boss and his young stars were brought down to earth as Liverpool strolled to a 2-1 Premiership victory at Elland Road last night.

O'Leary has been in the job for less than a year and like his youngsters is on a learning curve. He'll no doubt take stock of a poor Leeds performance which he seemed unable to influence.

Impressive Liverpool dominated as a listless United, lacking the energy, drive and direction they showed in Saturday's victory over Sunderland, were outplayed.

The victory will ease the pressure building on Gerard Houllier after successive defeats against Watford and Middlesbrough, but Liverpool don't lose three on the trot very often - and rarely looked like being beaten by an off-form Leeds side even when they fell behind against the run of play.

O'Leary opted for three strikers, but that left his midfielders overrun by Liverpool's five-man midfield in which Patrik Berger was the spare man, using the ball to feed the dazzling Titi Camara.

The summer signing from Marseille tormented United right back Danny Mills all night with slick feet, changes of pace and mesmeric movement.

Camara had already whipped in a dangerous cross which David Thompson headed into the midriff of Nigel Martyn before Lee Bowyer made a spectacular headed clearance to keep out Jamie Redknapp's fierce drive.

But Liverpool's good early work was undone by some catastrophic defending in the 20th minute when Ian Harte's corner beat a posse of defenders and Cameroon World Cup star Rigobert Song jabbed the ball into his own net.

Just as Leeds looked as though they would get to the interval clinging on to their advantage, Camara pounced for the equaliser.

Lucas Radebe, not for the first time, produced a superbly-timed tackle, but the ball span loose on the edge of the box where, with the minimum of back-lift, Camara instantly bent the ball beyond goalkeeper Martyn's right.

Ten minutes after the break Liverpool went ahead when Berger bent the ball in from the left and Radebe, United's best performer, stabbed it into the corner of his own net under pressure from Robbie Fowler.

Liverpool had little difficulty in closing out the game, the only scare coming when Jonathon Woodgate sent a header into the arms of Sander Westerveld.

That was all a jaded Leeds could produce in a second-half in which O'Leary stuck doggedly with three men up front when midfield reinforcements were needed.

He did replace personnel by sending on Alan Smith and Eirik Bakke, but the system, which was clearly not working, simply played into Liverpool's hands.

The result will have punctured much of the hype about Leeds, who will need to rebuild their energy levels and confidence after the poorest home display in O'Leary's reign.

With the UEFA Cup draw on Friday, O'Leary will be hoping to learn from what went wrong as Liverpool played in a style which Leeds are likely to encounter in Europe.

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