Liverpool have been beaten 3 – 0 by Manchester City at the Ethihad Stadium this evening, the Reds had plenty of possession but couldn’t convert that pressure into a goal. Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany were excellent in defence for Manchester City, no complaints about the result, Liverpool weren’t clinical enough in front of goal, only gripes I have is the penalty, the referee got it very wrong, Martin Skrtel barely touched Yaya Toure and the uselessness of striker Andy Carroll!
City’s first goal was a goalkeeping mistake by Pepe Reina, and the Spaniard knew it; seeing his reaction, allowing the ball to get under his body in the 10th minute. The Blues doubled their lead in the 33rd minute with a set piece that Liverpool failed to defend, Toure rising above everyone to head in from 12 yards. The final nail in the coffin was the penalty in the 75th minute, which I believe to be a soft penalty, Toure made a meal of the tackle, defender Skrtel barely touched him!
The penalty was ultimately what killed off the Liverpool spirit, without the penalty and having a man over after Gareth Barry’s sending off, there was a chance of a comeback, but even without the penalty, Liverpool were unlikely to come back from 2 – 0 down, the Reds simply didn’t have the clinical finishing required to break down the Blues defence. Andy Carroll needs to be dropped from the starting line-up, Kenny Dalglish can not keep playing the former Newcastle striker match after match, Carroll has not performed like he had done for Newcastle in the Liverpool shirt.
It’s not like Liverpool played badly today, they simply didn’t have that cutting edge that we saw in the previous game against Newcastle, in which the Reds beat the Magpies 3 – 1, Craig Bellamy and Steven Gerrard the scorers. I was amazed that it took until the 56th minute for Dalglish to make changes, Gerrard and Bellamy should have been brought on immediately after the second goal in my opinion for the best chance of getting a point out of the game and I am baffled as to why Carroll stayed on the field, Carroll should have come off, rather than Kuyt when Bellamy came on.
I feel that finishing in the top four is out of the question while Dalglish continues to play Carroll, even more so now that Liverpool have decided to not contest the eight match ban for Suarez. It feels like Carroll is Dalglish’s pet project and is letting his bias cloud his judgement! The Reds remain in sixth, a win could have moved Liverpool ahead of Arsenal and level on points with Chelsea.