Liverpool 2 - 2 City

• Frustrating as it is to blow a lead for the second consecutive game (and third time in four in the league), this is a good result. Of course, after five straight draws you don't really want a sixth. But we are at the mercy of the fixture list here. And a draw at Anfield is still a draw at Anfield. In the context of the season this will appear to be a better result than it now feels.

• But blowing a lead is still infuriating. If we had closed out this game - as well as the easier home ties with Fulham and Burnley in recent weeks we would now be in second with 27 points - just three behind Chelsea. It wasn't a great goal, either. Nedum Onuoha and Joleon Lescott ran into each other, no one cleared the ball and Pablo Zabaleta lost Yossi Benayoun. And this was, by recent standards, a good defensive performance!
  

• And in an attacking sense too we played well. The first half was a non-event, due to injuries and interruptions. But in the second half - up until Benayoun's goal, at least - we played some very good stuff. This was largely thanks to Hughes' changing the shape from 4-2-4 to a 4-1-4-1, closer to last season's set up. The midfielders all linked well with Adebayor, and Ireland revelled in something approxomating his role last year - given the licence to roam thanks to the presence of two more defensive midfielders in the side.

• While we're on the positives, coming back from 0-1 down at Anfield to lead 2-1 is impressive, even given Liverpool's recent form. Ultimately there are lots of different areas where you can look for mental strength, and while we're failing on quite a few of them, the comeback, at least, was heartening. For those 74 seconds we had Liverpool on the ropes. We still need to find that killer instinct, to land that final punch, but until then we're doing ok.