Manchester City Escape Anfield as Brendan Rodgers Almost Makes Dream Debut

Forget the usual talk about a game of two halves. When Liverpool and Manchester City drew 2-2 in the English Premier League's Sunday showcase, it was a match of two goals and two howlers.

And after two adventurous outings, the champions could consider themselves fortunate to be anywhere near the top of the table.

That's harsh, of course, but not entirely overboard. In a thrilling season opener, City struggled and scuffled and fell behind Southampton before ultimately picking up a deserved victory on home soil. And after this first away date, the verdict can't be the same.

Apart from a spell of early pressure—a sequence nearly capped by an improbable Carlos Tevez goal from an impossible angle—City largely scrapped and clawed and came out second-best to a Liverpool team still reeling from its opening-day humiliation at the hands of West Bromwich Albion.

Not that the injustice was appalling or even all that unjust. For both of Liverpool's excellently taken goals, the Reds conjured an equally awful error on the other end. First came the sublime, then the sub-standard; the glorious followed by the egregious.

Both have defined the first two matches of Brendan Rodgers' dawning revolution at Anfield, a realization that will serve as sobering reality to the Red Army. And for City, a second successive sloppy performance can only be viewed as cause for concern.

Dating back to last May, when the blue half of Manchester snatched the title on the final day of the season, City had won each of its last three competitive matches 3-2. Each of those matches were as entertaining as they sounded.

So when Carlos Tevez pounced on an errant Martin Skrtel back-pass in the 80th minute, skipped around Pepe Reina and scored the equalizing goal, the football gods seemed to be smiling yet again on City.

It was Liverpool's second error of the day—Reina and defender Martin Kelly had combined for the first to allow Yaya Toure to score City's first equalizer—and it offset the offensive contribution Skrtel had made for the Reds in the first half.

Rising highest to meet Steven Gerrard's corner, Skrtel powered the ball into the back of the net and Liverpool into a deserved halftime lead.

What came next was even nicer, but where Skrtel had towered, Luis Suarez tantalized. The mercurial Uruguayan, so often a target of (deserved) criticism last season for his actions toward Patrice Evra, hinted at a new era of his own with a gorgeously curling free kick that cleared City's wall and evaded Joe Hart's fingertips for a second-half lead.

It might have held up, too, and Rodgers might have had his dream debut at Anfield if not for Skrtel's moment of madness. But for Liverpool, it's still a positive result, not least because of last week's shocking start, but also for the encouraging signs from new-ish players like Joe Allen and Raheem Sterling.

And while the result wasn't the desired one, a draw against the champions with such a young side should serve as a starting point for future progress.

For City, though, it might be something different. Though the score ended level and City stayed unbeaten, the adventurous three-man defense gave up another two goals—that's four now through two games—while signs of trouble bubbled up around the pitch.

Mario Balotelli started for the first time since being sent off at Arsenal in April, and his uneven performance—while in no way red-card worthy this time—immediately recalled the reasons for Roberto Mancini's strict handling of his erratic Italian striker.

Elsewhere, tactical questions remain, from the three-man backline to the appropriate place for David Silva.

But the season is only two matches old. Those problems could yet be solved, and only a fool would doubt City's staying power in this season's title defense.

But after yet another nervy comeback, a routine rout next week against Queens Park Rangers—the club that started this wild run back on that memorable May day—could be just what City need.

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