Former Manchester United midfielder Ray Wilkins feels Steven Gerrard should have started for Liverpool in yesterday's defeat by Manchester United.

Gerrard was sent off at the beginning of the second-half, having just come on for Adam Lallana.

Wilkins told talkSPORT: "If you saw him in the week against Swansea, he had a 35 minute cameo and controlled the whole game.

"I thought Brendan may well have started him yesterday. He is a big game player.

"It's the ringcraft. You look at the way Michael Carrick moved around the field and kept Manchester United ticking over. He was first class and that is exactly what Liverpool needed yesterday.

"Manchester United took the game away from Liverpool from the first minute and Michael Carrick was instrumental in doing that.

"You get lots of enthusiasm out of young players but, in certain games, you need that one player who has that little bit of craft around the pitch and [leaving out] Stevie Gerrard was probably the only mistake that Brendan has made for a long period."