A bittersweet day for Liverpool: so many positives to take from the performance, yet denied the three points they so obviously deserved. The important thing from the home perspective, was that this wasn’t a performance borne purely out of effort and desire, but that it had a structure to it and an obvious purpose. It’s too early to tell how successful Brendan Rodgers’ ideology will be at Anfield, but there are obvious signs that the players have responded positively to the fresh ideas.
Joe Allen was rightly man-of-the-match, and regardless of our negativity towards the signing, credit is obviously due for a performance of that calibre. His use of the ball was excellent, his understanding of the play around him was extremely accomplished, and he didn’t seem in any way burdened by his excessive transfer fee. Really promising – now he has to maintain that form.
There was something deeply listless in City’s performance today, and there were times when they looked like eleven players who hadn’t played together before. Mis-placed passes, ragged shape in the midfield – they were the complete opposite of everything we usually associate with Mancini’s side.
Jonjo Shelvey is an underrated player, and actually performed extremely well in patches this afternoon. Unfortunately, Nuri Sahin’s arrival will probably limit his chances in the Premier League, but given game-time in a more precisely defined role and he’ll develop into an extremely useful player. Shelvey is unusual for an English player; his level of technical ability is far higher than most of his national contemporaries, and his languid style is one more associated with playmakers from Buenos Aires than it is Romford. A cultured performer who Liverpool need to integrate properly over time.
Why Kolo Toure was selected ahead of Jolean Lescott is almost beyond explanation; the Ivorian is a calamity waiting to happen. When a side is on the road, the first priority has to be defensive security – and so surely that’s the priority with team selection? Regardless of what Roberto Mancini is trying to change about his side’s defensive shape, Toure no longer looks capable of reacting to the pace of the game around him.
Roberto Mancini’s preference is obviously to use Yaya Toure in deeper positions, and then push him forward as and when City require more influence in their opponent’s half. But given how much he offers whenever he is given more offensive license, isn’t there a case for giving him a permanent home further up the pitch?
It’s a strange argument to make given the volume of cash which City have already parted with, but Mancini has a point when he urges Brian Marwood to loosen the purse strings. It’s not that the first-team needs incremental improvement, because they’re still theoretically superior to anybody else in the league, more that it requires freshening-up. Scott Sinclair will arrive from Swansea in the coming days, but it would still be useful to have a new component in the midfield, and probably also a more secure secondary option at centre-back.
Martin Skrtel’s error? What can you say – it was just a mistake. Sometimes it’s pointless to castigate a player for their part in conceding a goal, because nine times out of ten it doesn’t happen. Sometimes that’s football, and at least the red flag now exists in his mind to prevent him from ever doing it again.
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