Liverpool take a narrow 1 – 0 lead into the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final at Anfield after beating Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening, but in my opinion, Liverpool hardly deserved the win after resorting to a 10 man defence with only Andy Carroll up front!
I’ll take the win being a Liverpool fan but I found myself sat on the sofa feeling frustrated with manager Kenny Dalglish’s decision to fall back into their own half in the second half of the game, effectively making Andy Carroll useless, he might as well go sit in the stands. The former Newcastle man even fell back near the end. I really don’t like this sort of negative play; in the second half, Liverpool looked like a League 2 side fighting to hold onto a desperate draw, I believe this was a missed opportunity with many key Manchester City players suspended or unavailable.
In the first 45 minutes, Liverpool looked like they could have won the game by a much larger margin, Joe Hart made a series of great saves to keep the home side in the game before Gerrard’s penalty kick put the Reds into the lead. But after the half time break, Liverpool lifted off the gas pedal and City started to apply pressure for the equaliser, which thankfully never came!
Playing so negatively could have easily cost Liverpool the win, Martin Kelly’s back pass left Reds keeper Pepe Reina exposed against Sergio Aguero, the Liverpool keeper did excellently to push Aguero wide. The tie is in no-way won, Liverpool still have a lot of work to do, Manchester City are more than capable of beating Liverpool at Anfield if Dalglish’s XI are not on their ‘A’ game!
