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.

Liverpool player ratings

Given Had one save to make all day - from a tame left footed shot from Gerrard. Sound underneath crosses. Captain for the day in Kolo's absence. 6

Zabaleta After a nervy first ten minutes he had his best game this season: he was flawless. He won every tackle he went in for and was lively going forward too. He makes such intelligent runs it's a shame he doesn't have another yard or so of pace so that he could really threaten. 8

Kompany Back in at centre-back, he had a decent game. Other than losing his boot in the second half it was not particularly eventful, although he could easily have conceded a penalty late on for almost tripping Yossi Benayoun. 6

Lescott Another good performance, Lescott was untroubled with the ball in the air or on the ground. At least as good as Kompany at bringing the ball out from the back. 7

Bridge He was more cautious than he usually is at home, but was comfortable in defence up against the limited Maxi Rodriguez and the sparky Ryan Babel (no, seriously.) 6

de Jong Like his rival Javier Mascherano he relished the physical battle in midfield and did a good job of shackling Steven Gerrard. His awareness and tackling were as good as ever, and his distribution was good too. 8

Barry Another quiet game. He failed to find much space for himself in the midfield, except for when he drifted out to the left in the second half. Could have been sent off for a handball after being booked, or for going down easily. 6

SWP At times he looked to have the beating of Emiliano Insua, but he could never quite get into good enough positions to deliver threatening crosses. Linked well with Zabaleta but might overestimate the Argentine's pace at times. Worked hard defensively. 6

Ireland His lack of form is a worry and a shame. For the second consecutive home game he was in his favoured role but he failed to escape the attentions of Mascherano. The one time he found himself in a good position, on the edge of the box, he spun into a defender rather than into the space. 5

Johnson Patchy but exciting. His running with the ball at defenders is better even than Martin Petrov or Wright-Phillips. His delivery, though, still needs work: his crossing was poor and his free-kicks and corners weren't any better. 7

Adebayor When he puts the effort in he's excellent. Had our only shot on target, and our best opening - running through before being tackled by Martin Škrtel. His support play - coming deep to link play, or drifting wide and running at defenders, was also very good. When he does it for 90 minutes he'll be brilliant. 7

Subs:

Bellamy Ran at Carragher, with some success. Should play at Stoke in mid-week. 6

Ibrahim Looked out of his depth. 5

City 0 - 0 Liverpool

• It might have been a contest for fourth place in the Premier League, but it felt like they were playing for fourth in Serie A. The match was cautious and ponderous, with both teams adopting similar approaches, keen to avoid defeat. If Roberto Mancini was brought in to eliminate the fragilities which brought about the 3-3 draw with Burnley then he's certainly succeeded. But I'm not sure that on current form we could recreate those high-scoring Hughes home games either. Without Carlos Tévez we look utterly goalless.

• A 0-0 draw was always a likely result today. Both teams approached the game in the same way: with a caution bred by a lack of confidence, and a manager keen on a more tactical, controlling approach to the the game. Both sides were set up in 4-2-3-1 formations, and were more than willing to keep men behind the ball, challenging the opposition to break them down. Both sides missed their star centre forward, and as such lacked any cutting edge. Two of the best players on the pitch were Javier Mascherano and Nigel de Jong, each destroying the other side's attacks. Two shots on target in the whole match says it all.

• So I suppose the question is whether we should be happy with matching Liverpool at home, and whether we should have been more ambitious? There were some boos at the final whistle - although fewer than against Stoke last Saturday - demonstrating the frustration of some fans with Mancini. I'm not sure what I think of this. It is mildly disappointing to see us play such insipid stuff at home. But we did keep our shape well and limit Liverpool's threats to corners. Until Tévez comes back we can't expect to threaten good defences. Because I don't think we're going to get an expansive style of play any time soon.

• One complaint: diving. I hate diving, and it upsets me to see Manchester City players doing it. Steven Gerrard was bad today, as he always is, but so were Gareth Barry and Adam Johnson. The idea that English players don't dive has been largely exploded in recent years by Gerrard, Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney but it does still sting a bit to see English players doing it. Particularly when they're English players that play for City. And this isn't just a moral point either. Peter Walton was very liberal today, largely, I think, because of the play-acting of some of the players. Had he been more willing to blow his whistle we might well have got that penalty for Daniel Agger's push on Adebayor.

• But I'm happy with today: more pluses than minuses. We're defending better than we have all season - perhaps thanks to Kolo Touré's relegation to the bench - and we did well to limit Liverpool to no chances. We've got a bit of work to match the attacking fluidity of Spurs and Aston Villa, but when Tévez comes back and Craig Bellamy gets fit we'll be closer. And we've still got that precious game in hand.
  

Liverpool preview

(I don't know when I'll be able to blog between now and Sunday's game so this preview is unusually early.)

Before the Stoke game we looked like we were heading into a definitive period both for our season and even for Mancini's management of Manchester City. A scored draw - coming from behind - is almost an entirely neutral result and as such there is a sense of a judgement postponed from it. The crunch period then, that will dictate the rest of 2010 for City, starts on Sunday against Liverpool.

If we win we have a four point leader over Liverpool to accompany our game in hand. We can generate some momentum with which to attack at Stoke on Wednesday night, before hoping to emerge from Stamford Bridge with dignity before another huge game the following weekend. A bad result, though, and a performance as insipid as the last few, and the whole Mancini experiment (by which I don't just mean Mancini's work as manager but also the decision to bring him in for Mark Hughes in the first place) look rather flawed. There's a lot riding on this.

The good news is that should not be a particularly difficult game. Liverpool have barely played well all season, and without Fernando Torres there is no cutting edge to their play. They're well organised at the back but still susceptible against pace and with Adam Johnson and Shaun Wright-Phillips in the side we should be able to trouble them. I wish we could play 4-4-2 but without Tévez there isn't much point. (Roque Santa Cruz is as far from full fitness as he has been all season.) But a 4-2-3-1 with three of Johnson, SWP, Bellamy and Ireland behind Adebayor should be good enough for a win. I predict 1-0.

The Mancini/Bellamy spat

The main story around the club this morning is an alleged 'bust-up' between Roberto Mancini and Craig Bellamy over the latter's training schedule. It broke overnight in the form of a Neil Custis article in Friday's Sun, describing it as an 'astonishing bust-up.' It came down to the issue of the extent of Mancini's regulation of Bellamy's training, which differs from the rest of the squad due to his long standing knee injuries:

A stunned insider said: "The manager was yelling 'Why are you always questioning me? Why won't you do as you are told? Why are you always questioning everything at training and in games?'.

"Bellamy argued back that he only wanted what was best for the club.

"But Mancini snapped 'I want you to leave now. And do not come back for three months'."

Unsurprisingly this was brought up in today's press conference. Mancini said of it:

“These things (an argument) can happen in a job. I don’t have problems with Craig.

“I spoke with him in the office and read that I shouted at him. But I didn’t. We just spoke face-to-face.

“He is having treatment at the training ground and if the knee is okay, he will be available for Sunday.”

Which seems to put a lid on it. It should not be much of a shock that a disagreement would take place between Mancini and Bellamy over training. Bellamy was reportedly given real flexibility by Mark Hughes and Mark Bowen to train as best accorded with his fitness, but it is entirely understandable that a new manager would want to keep individual's training schedules under his own watch, if not his control.

And it is no surprise that any argument between the two should become heated, either. I love Craig Bellamy, and I think he has matured since coming to City, but it is still true to say that he is no stranger to frank exchanges of differing opinions. The good news is that the 'three month exile' claim seems to have nothing to it, and we could well see him running at Jamie Carragher on Sunday. Which could be fairly entertaining.

Tévez to miss Tuesday night

As I've said before, our attacking play in recent months has become very dependant on Carlos Tévez, and his ability to make things out of nowhere. When the rest of the team aren't performing, Tévez will often make things happen.

Which is fine. Lots of teams rely on one attacking player to make things happen. Take Wayne Rooney out of this year's Manchster United side and they would be a good side but not one with that much chance of winning the Premier League or the Champions League. It's not inherently a bad thing.

But we have now reached that point: Tévez has returned to Argentina, due to a family issue. We looked blunt without him yesterday, and this is only worsened by the absence of Craig Bellamy. On Tuesday night Adam Johnson will return (playing behind an Adebayor/Santa Cruz pairing?), but Bellamy will not. I'd love a point on Tuesday but I'm not too hopeful. It's Liverpool on Sunday, and the Cup game at Stoke, which matter most. And we really need Tévez, Bellamy and Johnson (for Liverpool) for those three.