Liverpool 2 – 2 MAN CITY – MY THOUGHTS
26 Jan
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And so our Carling Cup journey is over, but that won’t be lamented for too long. It would be far too easy to say now, after our exit, that we never wanted to win this trophy, but that, of course, isn’t the truth. Having got to the semi-final stage, we naturally hoped for progression to the final. So to be knocked out now is a disappointment, but that is tempered by the fact that the Premier League was the priority this season and this result means our attention, with the exception of the slight distraction of the Europa League, can now be focused upon domestic matters.
The feeling leaving Anfield was one of deflation but that quickly turned towards hope for the rest of the campaign. Liverpool, in all honesty, deserved to advance to the final although we were left to rue a pair of appalling penalty decisions from Phil Dowd. Despite becoming the first away side to score twice at Anfield this season, we didn’t have quite enough over the two legs to progress, but it means we can now focus on the main priority for this campaign.
Criticising Roberto Mancini is something I very rarely do, but I do feel his tactics were completely wrong yesterday. For the first time under his stewardship, we started in a 3-5-2 formation, with Stefan Savic at the centre of the defence. It meant that we were exposed on the wings, with Liverpool often having an extra man out wide, and a semi-final seemed completely the wrong time to test out a different way of playing.
The players looked unsure of their positions and we were indebted to the brilliance of Joe Hart in goal to keep us in the tie. Stefan Savic has received in appropriate amount of criticism over the last three games, but he did seem overawed and totally lacking in confidence. His distribution was nervy, his positioning poor and he was constantly put under pressure by Craig Bellamy. He was sacrificed at the break in favour of Sergio Aguero, and fortunately we have Vincent Kompany to return for the Everton fixture. Savic, for me, has shown enough potential to persevere with considering he’s only 21, but his confidence looks shot and he probably needs a spell out of the spotlight.
As touched on above, Joe Hart was outstanding throughtout and merely confirmed his status as the best ‘keeper in the Premier League. Often this season, he’s been a peripheral figure as we’ve dominated games, but he’s always shown great concentration and ability to make key saves. Yesterday, however, he was involved for 90 minutes as Liverpool poured forward and some of the saves he made were breathtaking. Should he continue to show the right application and desire, he could be our number one for the next fifteeen years and we are lucky to have him.
Opposition View: Over the two legs, Liverpool deserved to advance, but there is still the feeling that they are a touch limited. Their tactics yesterday amounted to hoofing the ball long, hoping Dirk Kuyt would win the aerial battle and then relying on Bellamy’s pace to cause problems. It worked because the Welshman was on the top of his game, but there was very little control in midfield or any attempt to pass the ball around. They ought to go on and lift the trophy, but whether or not the fans would be happy to win the Carling Cup and miss out on the Champions League remains to be seen.
As for the Blues, we travel to Merseyside against on Tuesday to face Everton. The players and staff will be disappointed not to reach the final of this competition, but can now focus on the league and that has always been the priority.
Mancini did get it wrong. Savic is indeed young, and he might eventually be good enough, but I don’t think he has shown enough to be persevered with unless that is code for ‘loaning him out’.
A few points
- Savic seems a lot better as aRB than a CB contrary to Boateng who was a lot better as CB than a RB. For some reason, our Bobby does not get this
- Boyata made a mistake last season against Arsenal and he was shut out despite the fact has was outstanding in a few games against top teams such as Chelsea and United. If only he had been given a chance this year much like Savic. Because at this moment, he is gathering dust in Bolton and not to mention the damage is being done to his self-confidence
- We definitely need a winger. It is a shame the Bellamy turned out to be a drama queen much like Tevez.
- Curling cup is a worthless competition, city should focus on being a top 4 this season. Title is the icing on the Cake
- Kolarov is very close to be called JO’s avatar
- This may sound mean but I do wish Ivory coast gets knocked out of African cup as soon as possible
Speaking as a Liverpool fan i thought we did well and deserved to go through. I hope you win the league but if you will allow i would like to point out something i am finding quite amusing.
The author hints at it her and i have seen it written in other places. I cannot for the life of me understand MCFC fans making statements about not worrying about being out of a cup as it allows you to concentrate on the league or Europe. Guys with all due respect you have won nothing that will change record books yet. You have a great squad but everything is currently potential you should be loving every second of this and wanting to win everything every year.
We won the FA cup you ignoramus. Check that in your history book!
Bit harsh Mike, thought a very sensible statement, from a city fan, think your right steve, not banking on too much just yet
Glad you can now concentrate on the league. Always hated the idea of the title ending up in Manchester. But if it does, at least let it end up on the right side of the city.
We’ll try to help by denting Utd’s confidence this weekend and perhaps accusing some player of something just to see the FA go to work again.
It was a battling performance, but it was not vintage stuff, we were of coarse undone by the ref. And with De Jong getting on the scoresheet i am a bit bemused by the entire game.
Until such time as the FA adopts a consistent refereeing
std,there will be controversy.Take the double footed challenges.Some refs give a yc and some red.There are other challenges and tackles on the greyish side.
If the FA doesn’t clear this up, it will lead to charges of a conspiracy theory taht they only want the red faced to perpetuate his dominance which leads to the next
question.
How is it he has triumphed twice in the cl?The refs of course.
Mancini played a with 5 at the back, not 3. In the same way as we did at the derby, only we had the extra man this time. Don’t go critcising Mancini, we all know that its Platt who makes the tactical decisions