Manchester City vs. Liverpool: City Limp to 3-0 Win

 As barmy as it sounds, this was the case last night.

Until the goalkeeping error by Pepe Reina it was unlikely that City would find a breakthrough in the first half, despite the expensive talent on show (£97 million for the three strikers on the field) the game was tight and neither side’s strikers shone.

The BBC report on the game said that City’s win was "comfortable," but the reality (something the BBC don’t always grasp) was much different. Aguero’s tame shot rolled under Reina, and Yaya Toure scored a very good header from out of nothing, but in truth the game could have fairly been 0-0 at the break and neither side would have complained.

James Milner wrapped the game up for City with a well-taken penalty, when it was later shown that Toure had dived before being challenged by Martin Skrtel.

However, by then City had been reduced to 10 men after the cynical Gareth Barry had been dismissed for his second yellow, although he could have been dismissed five minutes earlier had the referee punished a similar "challenge" he made on a Liverpool player once the ball had gone. Milner was also guilty of a few of these challenges, but escaped the second yellow.

City’s best period of the game actually came when they went down to 10 men, with the score comfortable and with Liverpool failing to produce any incisive passing toward Andy Carroll, they believed attack was the best form of defence and so they surged forward against a Liverpool team who seemed not to know how to play against 10 men. 

Indeed, Liverpool played as if nothing had changed. It was only the substitution of Spearing for Maxi that signified that caution may be thrown to the wind. However, it yielded very little in terms of improving Liverpool’s potency, and just meant that Toure could dictate attacks from the centre of the field without the threat of a Spearing challenge.

City’s back line were spartan, four imposing and athletic figures who stood resolute for 90 minutes and gave very little away. When they did slip up, it was Liverpool who were reluctant to punish them, with Stewart Downing a massive culprit when through one-on-one with Hart. The shot was tame and Downing never seemed to recover from it. 

There were three or four Liverpool free kicks in decent positions, but none were problematic for City.  You would think that the slippy surface from the constant rain would lend such chances to powerful shots from Agger or Carroll with their sledgehammer left-footed shots but it was Adam and Gerrard who stood over the free kicks and tried to curl efforts in on goal from distance in the swirling wind and rain, quite ludicrous decision-making from Liverpool.

City were solid without being spectacular. They really do seem to miss the sparkle of Mario Balotelli. Even David Silva was quiet, and that’s a rare occurrence at Eastlands this season. 

Edin Dzeko was monolithic in his movement once more, charging at people but never likely to get on the end of anything, and probably wouldn’t know what to do with it even if he did reach the player. For a moment or two Dzeko and Skrtel threatened to re-open the Balkans conflict after Dzeko took a theatrical tumble, which resulted in Liverpool putting the ball out for him to receive "treatment."   

However, Dzeko’s strength was an issue for Liverpool in the final third as they were unable to challenge him, or Toure, when they had the ball at their feet. Spearing and Henderson were very often just brushed aside by both.

Nothing to worry about for City though, winning 3-0 and going down to 10 men, and still not putting in a vintage performance…that’s good work if you can get it.

As for Liverpool, it was a harrowing look at life without Suarez, and it seemed very much to be a result of Dalglish’s team selection. Carroll was put up front on his own, but the supply line of Steven Gerrard was on the bench until the 60th minute. At that point Charlie Adam was taken off, but it was Adam who looked Liverpool’s most threatening central operator until that point.

Gerrard played a lot more centrally then his cameo against Newcastle, and so the crosses to Carroll just didn’t come. Downing, Maxi, Walt Bellamy, Glen Johnson and Enrique all stuttered in the final third, opting to come inside and play a short ball in most cases rather than whip in a quality cross.

Carroll should be a figure of pity, not a figure of ridicule. It was Carroll last night, but it could have been John Carew, Luca Toni, Mario Gomez, Didier Drogba…they aren’t going to be a threat to anyone without good service, and Liverpool just continually wasted chances to provide ammunition to the big striker.

It looks increasingly likely that Dalglish will look to purchase another striker in the transfer window, and there are increasing rumours of Darren Bent being targeted. However, the addition of Bent would result in yet the same issues unless Dalglish strengthens the creative options in the team. More talk has been of Gaston Ramirez, but little other noises are coming out of Anfield at present. 

On a personal note, I think the likes of Victor Moses, Nathan Dyer and Royston Drenthe are regularly showing performances in this division that must make Dalglish envious. Not expensive additions, but speedy and competitive players with confidence to take men on and have a go at goal themselves. 

At present, Downing is more of a disappointment than Carroll for Liverpool fans. The £20 million winger currently has ZERO assists and ZERO goals for Liverpool, which is perhaps a tad less than they expected. It’s no surprise that Carroll’s performances have been underwhelming when the supply line is so frail.

I’d also like Liverpool to be looking at the likes of Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo from Sevilla, and perhaps Moussa Sow or Papa Cisse, both confident goal scorers with good athletic physical attributes to worry defenders like Kompany.

It’s not all bleak for Liverpool. Prior to last night they were right in with a shout of maybe even climbing back into the title shake-up, but now it’s firmly top four as their goal. Even with the dropped points at home, Liverpool were still right up there, and that’s a salient point. If Liverpool bring in some actually attacking quality, then I think people could be very surprised with this team in a relatively short space of time.

Good luck to Man City for the rest of this season. They are the best team in the division bar none.