ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool 1 Manchester City 1: LIVERPOOL WILL be chastised for failing to maintain a challenge to Manchester United, yet other offenders are ignored because they are lost from view in the crowd of mediocrity.
It is the misfortune of Rafael Benitez’s team, seven points adrift of the leaders, to be blamed for being more prominent so far than the rest of the also-rans. This game was a superfluous illustration of Liverpool’s weaknesses.
Had the injured Steven Gerrard been on hand, a recovery that led to Dirk Kuyt’s equaliser would probably have proceeded to victory. Few will resist making the comparison with United, who scarcely seem conscious of the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney.
All the same, nothing should detract from the approval for a more spirited and organised showing by Manchester City. Players such as Nigel de Jong, in midfield, had a composure and alertness that laid bare the predictability of Liverpool. The visitors even hinted at victory when Craig Bellamy, with the match’s opener, maintained his habit of punishing his exes by scoring against them.
More than this will be needed to give Mark Hughes security in his job but the improvement was marked. A side that had been in Uefa Cup action in Copenhagen on Thursday came to Anfield to grapple with well-rested opponents. In addition, the 2-2 result in Denmark was galling because of the shoddiness of the defending, more so as those goals were notched by a team in its mid-season break. Recovering from that ignominy here called for a spirit that has allegedly been waning at City.
It is shortcomings at Liverpool that now demand attention. The leaks about Benitez’s struggle to secure greater powers over transfers under a new contract are turning into a soap opera but it is a tiresome one. If this were a television drama, it would have been axed by now because ratings had flatlined. However, the wrangle is a distraction.
At least Liverpool may have a better story to tell in the Champions League, which resumes at Real Madrid on Wednesday. The Bernabeu can be a perilous place but the visitors will be relieved of the obligation to dominate the match. A great deal of possession did not lead to incisiveness yesterday, even if there were intermittent moments of alarm for City.
When a corner by Andrea Dossena after 23 minutes caused consternation, Albert Riera hit the loose ball at Micah Richards. The visitors had the most adept move before the interval. Stephen Ireland, often impressive for City, struck a long pass towards the left and Robinho carried play inside before returning the ball to the midfielder. Ireland was then deep inside the Liverpool area but his first attempt from the right was aimed at Pepe Reina and the rebound was directed wide.
Fernando Torres was, predictably, the most refined footballer in Benitez’s side. He saw possibilities in the inside-right channel, where the visitors’ steady left-back, Wayne Bridge, was made to suffer for a spell. Torres dummied him before breaking away but Riera squandered the time and space he enjoyed from the striker’s cut-back by missing the target.
It was a Torres turn and pass that again exposed Bridge three minutes from half-time but the ensuing effort by Yossi Benayoun was misdirected. Lapses were far from being the key to the outcome and Hughes’s team had an unfamiliar degree of concentration. This, after all, is a side that has been defeated in the league at West Bromwich and Stoke. The manager was so contented on this occasion that he made a single substitution and even that did not occur until the 88th minute. City’s tactics were pragmatic, with Vincent Kompany pushed upfield to stop Javier Mascherano from setting Liverpool in motion. The visitors’ midfielder then did rather more than that by playing a part in City’s goal. In the 49th minute Robinho found him Kompany who set up Bellamy for a shot that took a deflection off Alvaro Arbeloa before spinning into the net. Liverpool did at least summon the firepower to respond.
With 78 minutes gone, the substitute Fabio Aurelio put Benayoun in possession on the left and his low cross was miskicked by Torres to set up Kuyt to score. Benayoun demanded a parry from Shay Given with eight minutes left and the Israeli followed up for a header that came off the hand of the visitors’ centre-back Richard Dunne. It was no penalty and Liverpool were never to receive the stroke of luck essential for victory in a side that could not outclass stubborn opponents.
Afterwards a despondent Benitez stopped short of saying his side could not win the title, but accepted “it will be more difficult now”.
He added: “I have confidence that we can still win it, but we must win our next two league games against Middlesbrough and Sunderland and then win against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Then we may have a different situation. But I just accept that this has been a bad result and it clearly makes it more difficult for us to win the title.”
Guardian Service
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