Given Liverpool's near miss last season and Man City's expensive new team, both sets of fans started the season with high expectations of silverware. But after yet another draw, it is looking like both teams may hit the Christmas milestone outside the top 4 and outside the Champions League spots.
For many teams sharing the spoils at Anfield would be a result, however Mark Hughes will be very aware that this is not the return on investment that the Blues are expecting. A draw at home is also yet another blow for Rafa Benitez, whose tenure is coming under an ever increasing attack. Both managers might have been able to take some positives from the game if it had been a thrilling nail-biter, but in the end even Match of the Day struggled to find the highlights.
Nothing of much consequence happened in the first half, which begs the question for City fans why Tevez was left on the bench for the first hour. The game began in earnest after 50 minutes, when Skrtel took advantage of poor City defending to give the Reds the lead by converting a Gerrard free kick. Liverppol then appeared to sit back on their lead and paid the penalty after 69 minutes when Adebayor popped Bellamy's corner into the net. City went on to take the lead 5 minutes later with an Ireland goal. Liverpool fans could rightly question the position of Wright-Phillips when he crossed the ball to Ireland, but in the end City's lead was cancelled out shortly afterwards as Benayoun hit the target.
After the match Rafa blamed his injury list. Hughes was more upbeat and sung Tevez' praises, but both managers must be feeling the heat as they languish in 7th and 6th position respectively. The only positive both managers can really take from this weekend is that Arsenal slipped up at Sunderland.
Are Liverpool and Man City good enough for the top 4? On yesterday's performance definitely not. Spurs fans everywhere are rejoicing (just don't slip up against Wigan).
