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Club Focus - Manchester City - Positives and negatives for City
By Andrew Tuft
After the Republic of Ireland’s travails against France, Shay Given had probably had enough of all things French, but on Saturday, he had to deal with a bout of déjà vu thanks to Manchester City’s sixth league draw in a row.
City’s continued inability to defend properly and hold on to a lead means they have again dropped two points from a winning position, although this latest mis-step against Liverpool is not as damaging as the previous one against Burnley. Throwing away two points at home to a newly-promoted side is detrimental to any team, but coming away from the domain of last season’s runners-up with a share of the spoils is an achievement.
Before the game against the Reds, if Mark Hughes was offered a point, he would have taken it - the Welshman said as much after the match. Speaking to the BBC, the former Blackburn boss admitted: “My players are disappointed, they had an opportunity to win. Scoring twice and getting a point at Anfield is something you would normally be happy with.” The same would have been true after his side fell a goal behind in the 49th minute. But after seeing his players fight back to over-turn the deficit and lead, Hughes will have been deeply frustrated after Liverpool drew level just over 60 seconds later. And to rub salt into his wounds, both Liverpool goals were eminently preventable.
After a first-half brutally lacking in excitement, the second period exploded into life four minutes after the break. Pablo Zabaleta gave away a needless free-kick on City’s right and Emmanuel Adebayor’s half-hearted attempt at defending allowed Martin Skrtel to put Liverpool ahead. Liverpool had been as soporific as their visitors, showing little forward aggression despite the presence of Steven Gerrard. But Skrtel’s goal, instead of being the catalyst for Rafa Benitez’s men to push forward and press home their advantage, only ignited City into action.
Led by the rampaging Stephen Ireland, the Blues pummelled Liverpool until they drew level. The equaliser came from a corner that Adebayor rose to meet, unchallenged. Ironically, it was Liverpool’s goa- scorer Skrtel who should have been marking the ex-Arsenal striker, but as Adebayor did earlier, Skrtel switched off at the worst possible moment and allowed his man to get away from him. Less than 10 minutes later, Shaun Wright-Phillips turned Sotiris Kyrgiakos and fed Ireland, just onside, and the midfielder poked home.
City’s defence has been shaky all season, and the loss of Kolo Toure at half-time to a back injury threatened to make matters worse. Nedum Onuoha replaced the Ivory Coast international, and it was Onuoha’s poor clearance that kept the pressure on the City defence immediately after Ireland’s goal. David N’Gog sent a delivery across the box that deflected away from Given and Yossi Benayoun reacted before Zabaleta and diverted the ball into the goal. Two mistakes in quick succession, first from Onuoha and then Zabaleta, had contrived to undo City’s fine work.
While Hughes will still be troubled by his team’s problems in defence, he may also consider why City appeared toothless in the first-half. However, the cause may not lie with his team, but with their opponents. The Blues appeared to lack a game plan in the opening period, but the way Hughes set his players out revealed his intentions. City were built to counter-attack on Saturday, to exploit Liverpool’s forward surges, but they never came. With the pace of Wright-Phillips and Craig Bellamy down the wings, and Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong as the legs in midfield, City were ready to capitalise on Liverpool’s offensive forays but Benitez’s boys offered so little, City were nullified too. And when Liverpool snatched the lead, Hughes’ decision to withdraw Barry and replace him with Carlos Tevez gave City a cutting edge that had failed to appear from either side. From the 49th minute, when Liverpool went ahead, to the 76th, when City took the lead, it was the visitors to Anfield that looked more like a Champions League side than the hosts.
Hughes has plenty to build on, but rectifying the defence has to be a priority. With the transfer window approaching, the temptation will be to throw money at the problem. But it would be best for City’s long-term aspirations if Hughes stuck with what he has and continued to work at forming his first-choice back four into a solid unit. The talent in Joleon Lescott and Co is clearly there, but now Hughes has to coax it out from wherever it has been hiding this season.
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