BOTH MANAGERS were happy enough with the outcome. It is just a pity the paying public had to be involved. The efforts of these clubs to seize the last of the Champions League places will surely be gripping eventually but the action mostly argued that it would be in the interests of European football that everyone implicated in this match should have their passports confiscated. Such talk will mean little to anxious managers.
For Rafael Benitez this was a significant point on the road secured against rivals. Roberto Mancini would have taken his satisfaction from a clean sheet and the sight of Craig Bellamy coming back from injury as a substitute. The attacker and the City manager apparently had a disagreement last week but truces are always feasible when there are ambitions to be pursued.
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 little to be discussed, unless anyone was engrossed by the sight of a raking foul down the back of Gareth Barry’s leg by Javier Mascherano in the 86th minute. The offence was worthy of a red card, yet no action was taken by the referee Peter Walton. He could enjoy some sympathy if he argues that his senses had been stupefied long before.
The controversies were of poor standard. Benitez could work up little indignation that no penalty was awarded when Yossi Benayoun absent-mindedly stayed on his feet as he was challenged by Vincent Kompany.
Realistically Liverpool took whatever satisfaction could be scraped together. This, after all, was an away game and they probably enjoyed the better of it.
A neutral will take a deeper pleasure in the knowledge that neither team is in fourth place today, with Tottenham Hotspur occupying that berth.
If there was excellence at all, it lay in the sort of recovery tackle Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel pulled off when Emmanuel Adebayor seemed to be clear on goal with 10 minutes left. Benitez will be content, too, a cameo from the bench by Fernando Torres showed he is restored following his knee surgery. Impact, all the same, would have to wait.
Similarly Bellamy re-entered the fray from the bench. There was a double benefit for City in the proof that one of the outstanding performers this season is fit again and that any disagreements with Mancini have not sent the Welshman into exile.
There is a price of sorts to be paid by Liverpool. Five bookings trigger a €28,000 fine and the visitors must have decided there was no point in stinting themselves when already set to be out of pocket. Torres picked up the sixth caution for his team.
The action was often appalling, as if both sides were paralysed by the notion of the harm defeat might do them.
Prior to the interval onlookers had to wring as much excitement as they could from a Maxi Rodriguez attempt for Liverpool that was deflected behind or a header wide for the visitors by Skrtel from a corner.
It would be vastly overstating the case to suggest Benitez’s side had been in charge. Too many footballers were preoccupied in the fruitless search for their vanished form. Hints of the high stakes kept on coming in the flickering of yellow cards, with City shown a pair.
Mancini had been uneasy following the midweek draw at Stoke. Following the reported unrest in the squad, he put Micah Richards on the bench with Kolo Toure beside him, although the Ivorian was reported to have a presumably minor knee problem.
City have to take on Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United, Arsenal and Aston Villa in the weeks to come and meetings with those struggling against relegation will be demanding in a different way.
These clubs have high expectations and Mancini has the added worry of trying to retain his job. When minds clear, though, both clubs should ask themselves if this sort of wretched football can serve the interests of either.
Guardian Service
