Liverpool reax

Kevin McCarra, The Guardian

The sorriest aspect was the indifference to entertaining the woebegone spectators, with the home support summoning up the energy for a little light booing at the close. There was insufficient volume for it to be considered a protest against Mancini or anyone else. It may have been a yelp of annoyance over a perfectly good afternoon totally wasted.

Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

Some culpability must lie with Roberto Mancini and Rafael Benítez, whose mindsets seemed focused on the draw. Both teams lined up 4-5-1: Emmanuel Adebayor and Dirk Kuyt led the lines while Gerrard and Stephen Ireland played between the lines. Liverpool’s lack of width, with Maxi Rodriguez peripheral, was particularly alarming. At least Mancini tried to stretch Liverpool through Johnson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and eventually Craig Bellamy.

Ian Herbert, The Independent

A match between two contestants each so badly wanting to avoid defeat was never likely to summon up much cavalier spirit. But when opportunities to break out arrived, City advanced with such diffidence it was scarcely believable that this was the core of Mark Hughes' ambitious, high-rolling side. It took them precisely an hour and 15 seconds to conjure any shot on target – Pepe Reina was still conscious enough to palm Emmanuel Adebayor's strike smartly around his right- hand post – though Mancini denied that his club's first thought is now always to defend. "For me, as a team, this is important we didn't concede any chances," Mancini said. "We played a top squad."

Matt Hughes, The Times

For such an expensively assembled side, City are not creating enough chances in the first place, and it was not until the final ten minutes that the visiting team were placed under concerted pressure. Adebayor demonstrated impressive pace to get away from Martin Skrtel as he chased a long ball over the top in the 80th minute, but was denied by a well-timed sliding tackle from the Slovakia defender. Adebayor was presented with another opportunity from the resulting corner, heading Vincent Kompany’s cross over the bar.