Source: Liverpool_Echo
Manchester City 0-0 Liverpool FC: Full Time Match Report
Liverpool FC LFC club logo badge [LNB]The eagerly-awaited top-four showdown turned into a bore draw between Manchester City and Liverpool at Eastlands.[LNB]Gripped by the fear of losing, the North West rivals did not manage a shot on target during the first-half and only threw off their shackles in a half-hearted search for victory in the final 15 minutes.[LNB]But even the introductions of Craig Bellamy and Fernando Torres failed to lift the game from its overall torpor.[LNB]Pepe Reina's smart save to deny Emmanuel Adebayor represented the biggest thrill of a pitiful afternoon that convinced no-one of either club's worthiness to sit at Europe's top table, and proved how shrewd Sky and ESPN were not to bother screening it live.[LNB]When the teams were announced, it confirmed a tale of two substitutes. The sad thing was, when an opening period containing exactly zero shots on target ended, the respective benches were still the biggest talking points.[LNB]Torres was relatively straightforward.[LNB]A knee operation that was supposed to rule him out until March had eased sufficiently for Rafael Benitez to put him on the bench, if only for use in emergency.[LNB]Predictably, the issues surrounding Bellamy are less clear-cut.[LNB]It has now been established beyond question the Welshman's own dodgy knees can no longer stand up to the exhaustive nature of a Premier League season.[LNB]Also taken for granted is Bellamy's combustible nature.[LNB]According to Roberto Mancini, a midweek argument about the best way to treat the injury was nothing serious. Other reports tell a different story.[LNB]Bellamy's presence in Mancini's squad at least offered hope any souring of relations is repairable, although as a capacity crowd digested a truly awful opening period, the game itself was in desperate need of his involvement.[LNB]Given the scrap now taking place for that coveted fourth Champions League spot, a sense of trepidation could have been forgiven.[LNB]What was less easy to ignore was the woeful passing, the negativity and the limited vision. The sight of Steven Gerrard and Maxi Rodriguez running into each other on one Liverpool attack just about summed the whole thing up.[LNB]Gerrard was responsible for the visitors' best chance, sending over the corner that Martin Skrtel glanced wide at the far post after Shay Given had failed to come and collect.[LNB]At the other end, the only moment to enthuse about was a Pablo Zabaleta shot that would have gone wide had it not hit Emmanuel Adebayor. In such instances, anything can happen. This time, the trajectory of the ball barely altered.
