A game that ebbed and flowed enjoyably saw Kompany's headed opener quickly cancelled out by fellow centre back Joleon Lescott's inadvertent own goal, before the ever unpredictable Mario Balotelli was sent off for a second bookable offence only seven minutes prior to the final whistle and less than 20 minutes after he'd replaced former Gunners' playmaker Samir Nasri. This sparked late pressure on Joe Hart's goal from the home side, however the number one England stopper was on top form to deny the Merseysiders and keep the scores level at full time.
Before kick off the tragic pre-mature deaths of Brad Jones' son Luca and former Wales manager Gary Speed were fittingly commemorated with an impeccably observed minute's silence.
With the sad and shocking news of Speed's death filtering through on the morning of the match, debate raged around whether or not to postpone Sunday's Premier League fixtures as a mark of respect to his bereaved family. The League eventually decided that the fixtures would go ahead, however the football clearly paled into insignificance.The emotion was even more palpable at Swansea's match at home to Aston Villa, where many of the Welsh players had worked under Speed for their national team and Villa keeper Shay Given had been a close teammate of Speed's at Newcastle.
The game began at a high tempo and, rather appropriately considering their position at the top of the table, City started in the ascendancy, Toure drilling the first goalscoring opportunity of the contest just over the bar six minutes in. Reina then had to be quick off his line to deny Aguero after Enrique unusually delivered a poor back pass. The visitors claimed that Reina handled outside of the area and TV replays added some credence to this view, however there was too little space between the ball and the keeper's arm for him to realistically move out of the way in time. It was therefore a case of ball-to-hand, rather than handball.
Aguero, who has netted a remarkable 10 goals in 12 appearances, posed another threat on 21 minutes when his mazy run into the penalty area caused several Liverpool defenders to desperately attempt to prevent him going through on goal. Thankfully, he ran out of space at the critical moment and the danger was averted. Unfortunately, it proved to be only a temporary reprieve for the hosts, Kompany meeting Silva's corner with a powerful header to break the deadlock on the half hour mark.
Many expected City to continue in control and exert further dominance over their opponents, however only minutes later a slice of good fortune brought the Reds back into the contest. Charlie Adam's long range effort was veering disappointingly wide but a deflection off former Everton defender Joleon Lescott wrong footed Hart and
sent the ball into the back of the net.
Liverpool then had a flurry of chances prior to the interval, Hart turning another low drive from Adam around the post excellently with his foot, Suarez striking high over the bar and Johnson curling a left footed shot inches wide of the far post within quick succession. Reina was called into action during injury time to block Aguero's effort, however the Merseysiders went into the break confident of continuing to compete on a level playing field with the big-spending Mancuians.Dalglish's well-drilled defence remained tight throughout the second period and restricted the visitor's expensive attack effectively, while the Reds' midfield and attack attempted to craft chances and claim a winner. On 52 minutes Kuyt headed Downing's deflected cross wide, before a well-worked corner eventually led to Hart tipping Downing's volley over after it had bounced off the playing surface. The influential England international then saw his volley fly across the face of goal from Henderson's deep cross to the back post.
Despite the Reds creating the majority of the goalscoring chances, up to that point the tie had remained relatively balanced. The tipping point coincided with Balotelli's departure after an aggressive collision with Skrtel had earned the controversial and comical 21-year old a second yellow card. It was a truly absurd challenge and embarrassing performance by Balotelli, whose nickname is rapidly evolving from 'Super Mario' to 'Stupid Mario', his on-field follies coupling unfavourably with off-field misdemeanours such as setting fireworks off in his bathroom!
Fruitful link-up play between Lucas and Suarez culminated in Hart turning the latter's shot around the post, before a rapid counter attack from Dzeko exposed our back line and set up Aguero in a one-on-one position with Reina. The Spanish stopper and Danish centre back Agger did very well to stall the Argentine’s progress and, when he finally managed to get a shot away three red-shirted players were covering the goal line and Skrtel comfortably cleared the danger.
Manager Kenny Dalglish had initially ignored calls to introduce Andy Carroll earlier, however he sought to capitalise on Balotelli's dismissal by substituting Kuyt for the misfiring Geordie forward. He almost proved that call a correct one in the dying stages, as his goal-bound header was tremendously clawed away by the superb Hart in the Kop end goal. Perhaps brining him on earlier would have opened up the City defence further and enabled us to grab a winner while also helpfully building up Carroll's confidence. However, midfield control would have been sacrificed to achieve this and, against a team like City, that is simply not a viable option.
Although the hosts' late onslaught may have left them slightly disappointed not to have stolen all three points, a point from this side will placate both sides. Following Balotelli's red card City will be pleased to recover from their midweek defeat in Naples by taking a point away from Anfield, especially considering their 3-0 defeat here last season.
Meanwhile, despite their fifth home draw of the campaign, Liverpool will be satisfied with taking a point off the League's only unbeaten team. Their defensive display was particularly pleasing, with City recording their lowest number of shots on goal (7) of the season, half of their previous lowest amount. Moreover, we had 10 more sights of goal and enjoyed 56% of possession, statistically confirming yet another highly encouraging Liverpool performance.
The Reds will now revisit Stamford Bridge tomorrow confident of continuing their good form and claiming a place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.
YNWA
No comments:
Post a Comment