Manchester City's 3-0 Victory over Liverpool Highlights Team's Transfer Failings

There are always those jibes about teams with money that "buy" titles and have it easy because they can throw money at holes until they are filled. What is often overlooked, however, is the fact that when throwing money at a problem, you still have to have the capabilities to not miss the target.

Manchester City are a team that have taken the approach of throwing money at problems to mount a Premier League challenge.

It's something any average football-manager fan has done at some stage or another. Of course, in real life it's not as easy as reading a bunch of attribute numbers and using unlimited funds to move them into your team.

In real life, there is a huge amount of scouting, evaluations, budgeting and other decisions that go into acquiring football players to fit into the puzzle that is your team.

A man who is often the target of those jibes is Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini. However, after today's 3-0 victory over Liverpool, I have a new-found respect for what Mancini has done in Manchester.

Mancini laid out a clear transfer policy and implemented it in stages. Ignore the fact that he has unlimited transfer funds to buy whatever player he wants, the very fact that he knows what players he wants is a skill in itself.

The Manchester City manager built from the back, solidifying his defense with players that were already at the club and a few additions to solidify a weak spot on the left. He then preceded to rectify the lack of creativity in his midfield by bringing in David Silva and Samir Nasri. From there, Sergio Aguero and Mario Balotelli have arrived to give them the firepower to move towards the top of the Premier League.

All that seems pretty obvious and easy, doesn't it?

It's not that easy, and any Liverpool FC fan will be feeling the pain of expectations that are inflated by money. Liverpool's transfer activity since John W. Henry took over the reigns has been more miss than hit.

The additional funds that are being designated by Damien Comoli have simply not improved this team to the degree that it should have.

Roughly £51-plus million was spent on improving the senior squad prior to this season, while the transfer record was smashed twice in January, with over £50 million being spent on Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll.

That £100-plus million equates to Jose Enrique, Suarez, Carroll, Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Craig Bellamy amongst others. Of those seven transfers, three can be considered successes, two failures and two incompletes.

Bellamy, Suarez and Enrique are obviously the success stories, while Carroll and Adam appear to be failures. Downing and Henderson receive incompletes because of the potential to still be part of the team's future.

Damien Comoli has spent a lot of money to not actually improve the quality of the squad in the past year. At this time last year, Liverpool's biggest issue was a reliance on an underperforming striking superstar.

This year, that superstar, Fernando Torres, has taken his flopping abilities to London, while Luis Suarez' similar drought is being interrupted by his nine (eight+one) game suspension. Suarez hasn't had a great season this year as far as goal scoring, while additions that were meant to ease the pressure on him haven't contributed either.

Stewart Downing's season was captured in that missed one-on-one opportunity against Manchester City. Downing has simply been a miss for Liverpool this year; he's shown flashes but not put together any string of quality over a substantial period.

Downing was brought in for £20 million and was being looked to as a solution to the team's futility against teams that look to "park the bus" in Anfield.

He, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam were all expected to provide more craft and guile in the final third of the field for Liverpool, allowing them to move closer to the top of the table. That simply hasn't happened, as they have combined for three goals and five assists.

The most worrying thing about those statistics is that Stewart Downing has made zero contributions in the form of assists or goals. Downing was brought in to improve Liverpool's weakest part of the pitch as a winger.

Henderson and Adam haven't really improved the team drastically over players like Alberto Aquilani and Raul Meireles despite their larger fees.

These are all moves that reflect poorly on Comoli's effectiveness at building a football team without even considering his greatest mistake.

After selling Fernando Torres on the final day of the last January transfer window, Liverpool proved to everyone that they did not have a clear cut transfer policy within the club. They sacrificed quality and value by giving into short-term panic with a huge £35 million deal for Andy Carroll.

Carroll likely wouldn't bring in £10 million if the team tried to sell him now. He has looked lost playing for Liverpool, seemingly not fitting stylistically or tactically in the side. This would be OK if Carroll had shown flashes of his potential, but he has looked out of his depth, lacking awareness, passion and technique.

Liverpool's loss to Manchester City today emphasized the depth in class between the two sides. Apologists will point to the fact that Liverpool held onto the football and had a couple of chances early on, but that is a repeated problem of this season.

This wasn't just a once off game; this was a reflection on the limitations of the team as a whole. Despite financial investments over the past few years, Liverpool are no closer to being a better team than they were when they signed Fernando Torres.

The team still relies on only one or two players to elevate them above the average sides in the league. Building a squad is obviously not an easy thing to do regardless of how much money you have.

However, Damien Comoli has missed too many times trying to fill the gaping hole in the squad's structural wall.

Liverpool aren't Manchester City; they can't afford to miss big on targets often and repeatedly. Each time he makes a mistake, he comes closer to being sacked, and Liverpool get closer to repeating the failures of season's past.

Tweeting @Cianaf