Liverpool's Dream Week Still Puts Them Behind Manchester United, Man City

It was a fascinating week for Liverpool FC and one that resulted in two very impressive cup triumphs.

But let's get the boring bit out of the way: Why did the Manchester clubs fail?

Man City seem to have found a bogey team in Liverpool in recent times, but the exclusion of Vincent Kompany was probably most telling. 

That said, Man City should be able to cope when one of their first choice centre backs gets injured and it's a massive failing of Roberto Mancini to not have that cover. The drop in quality from Joleon Lescott or Kompany or Toure to Stefan Savic is unacceptable considering the money they've spent.

Also, the absence of Mario Balotelli was much lamented by City fans but for many Liverpool fans it was a shame.  For one, he's a much loved character in football.  Additionally, Liverpool tends to have a knack of being able to wind Balotelli up to the point that he will always implode. Daniel Agger or Jamie Carragher would have made sure of that.

But the other issue is width: City don't have a lot of it. 

It was only when Aleksandar Kolarov got wide and whipped in crosses that Liverpool looked under threat.  City has excellent attacking options in James Milner, Toni Silva and Samir Nasri, but none of them are explosive wingers that can run a full back and get a ball inbetween Pepe Reina and his defence.

Yaya Toure and Kompany are massive absentees for City, but then again, so are Luis Suarez and Lucas Leiva for Liverpool, so there are arguments for both sides to have grievances over players that were missing on that night.

As for the other team from Manchester, it all went wrong for them once more.  

Sir Alex Ferguson will complain about players missing, but once again you have to factor in that Liverpool went into that game without Suarez, Lucas, and even Adam Johnson on the bench. All three have been excellent this season and are up there with Wayne Rooney, Phil Jones and Nemanja Vidic in terms of effectiveness this season.

United's main threat was Antonio Valencia, who was excellent and summed up exactly what City were missing, that pacey wide threat.  However, Danny Welbeck was quiet, as was Park Ji-Sung (despite the goal), while Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick were allowed time and space in the first half to pick their passes.  As the game progressed in the second half, and particularly following the substitution of a lacklustre Steven Gerrard, the tide turned and United were forced to chase the game a bit more, something Carrick and Scholes did not welcome.

David de Gea, well, what can you say?  Again, it's a massive failing from Ferguson to spend that much on a goalkeeper who isn't very good in goal.  I pointed it out before he signed, he's far too slight for the hustle and bustle of the Premier League, and he's stepped into a squad where he's the only Spaniard, unlike when Reina went to Liverpool and settled along with a bunch of other Spaniards in Xabi Alonso, Fernando Morientes, Josemi, Antonio Nunez, Luis Garcia Sanz and Rafael Benitez himself.  There was talk of De Gea having problems with his eyes, although that alarming diagnosis seemed to clear itself up as the game progressed, which suggests there was never any such problem, just more excuses for a player clearly not up to the task of keeping goal for United.

So, that's the opposition sorted, what of Liverpool?

Despite all that, they still aren't good enough.  In reality it was a draw with City, and a narrow win over United at Anfield.  Commendable results, but the problems are still there, they can't score goals regularly and the team invite pressure on themselves.  Despite the latter, they still do well, which is down to some brilliant defending and leadership from the Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel partnership, while Martin Kelly was an impressive barrier down the right.

Jose Enrique had a poor game, Valencia constantly tormented him and whereas Nani would have been better than Park in many ways, Park still scored a goal, so he was effective.

The best Liverpool player in both games was possibly Craig Bellamy, as his work rate and determination to win separates him from many other players and it's a real shame his injuries are curtailing a brilliant ending to his colourful career. 

Meanwhile, Andy Carroll ran around and made a nuisance of himself, and provided the assist for Dirk Kuyt's winner, so perhaps it could be the spark to make him feel part of the furniture at Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson laboured but produced very little attacking spark, but they had to carry on because Liverpool's only other course of action is to introduce Kuyt or Maxi Rodriguez into a wide position. 

Kuyt scored, but it's not enough to convince that he's got much to offer a top four side anymore.  His lack of pace was always countered by the goals he scored, but the lack of goals now equates to an empty threat, he should have added a second goal and killed the tie off shortly afterwards.

The upshot of all this is that both City and United are still much the superior side to Liverpool due to their ability score all types of goals.  Until Liverpool can score more than opposition then there will be problems at Anfield.  I feel that Suarez does have more goals in him, and I feel that Carroll could score a few, as could Bellamy, but while the wide options for Liverpool consist from two of Kuyt, Downing or Maxi then it's going to be a struggle to achieve a CL finish.

Look around, other teams have the following excellent wide creative options....

Spurs - Aaron Lennon, Gareth Bale, Rafael Van Der Vaart

Arsenal - Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho

City - Johnson, Nasri, Silva (though the latter two not proper wingers)

United - Valencia, Giggs, Nani, Young

I don't think it's any surprise that Liverpool have been found wanting, especially at home, when the opposition dig themselves in for 90 minutes.

But more worrying is that the opposition have no fear of Liverpool on the counter and actually go for the win.

Six wins in 14 games at Anfield is a concern.

Five away games where they have drawn a blank is a concern.

Failing to beat Sunderland, Stoke, Norwich, Swansea, Fulham, Wigan, Blackburn, Stoke (again), and Bolton.

That's unacceptable considering the money spent on the side in the last 12 months, and this is why City and United have nothing to worry about for the time being.