LIVERPOOL, Nov 22 — As a first dividend on the desert-oil fund, Manchester City's avowed intent is to knock one of the top four clubs of the English Premier League out of the Champions League places.
On the evidence of yesterday, City are there, stride for stride with Liverpool. But, alas, only in mediocrity.
With half of Liverpool's team under medical treatment, and the other half giving cheap goals away, this was surely City's chance to win at Anfield.
But rather than give either side cause for optimism, the 2-2 draw featured defending you would not wish to see in parks' football.
City have now drawn six consecutive league games, equalling a club record that dates back to 1913.
Liverpool have run aground. Their season has stalled. They have won only once in 10 games in all competitions and, by Tuesday, they could be out of the Champions League as well.
It is all falling apart, and Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez blames “all the problems that we have”.
A first team dropping like drunken sailors. A defence whose zonal marking offers up so many spaces that yesterday neither Emmanuel Adebayor or Stephen Ireland were even challenged as they scored the away goals.
Adebayor's free header from a simple corner kick became the 12th league goal conceded from a set play this season — meaning Liverpool are the worst side in the EPL at defending dead-ball situations.
In contrast, when Skrtel scored his very first goal for Liverpool, just easing aside Adebayor off the ball, it was the first time this season Liverpool have scored from a set-piece — in this case, a low free kick from Steven Gerrard.
Can you believe this?
Liverpool, the club made great on the absolute reliability of their teamwork and high confidence, conceding goals and advantages to almost everyone?
It is hard to recall the Reds giving games away like this. Benitez, a man made famous for his ability to organise, and to motivate his teams, mumbled something about his players lacking confidence but still showing great character yesterday.
We did not see character.
We saw two extremely ordinary sets of players, nowhere near the sum of their multi-million-dollar price tags. And two managers setting up their teams to dull the game for fear of losing it.
Prolonged injuries to Gerrard and Torres, and the forced sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid have not helped. But Liverpool's lack of squad resources has been cruelly exposed.
It would be an indictment of the Spaniard if there were not a sense that Benitez has run into a road block of Liverpool's own making. The £245 million (RM1.4 billion) bank debt hovers over the club like an albatross.
The sense that the two American owners do not trust one another, much less wholeheartedly back the manager, is palpable.
And City's new owners, even from a castle in the Gulf, can see this. A club that does not back their team building are a club in trouble. It is so easy for City, with unlimited financial resources, to undermine Liverpool.
They bought Gareth Barry, when Liverpool wanted him. They hint at buying Javier Mascherano, if Barcelona do not get him first.
And without spending a cent, they foster uncertainty in the Liverpool ranks. If the players around Mascherano sense that he will be the next to quit the club, that seeps into the team morale, and creates uncertainty.
Liverpool's greatest strength, their trademark, always was the collective will, the trust and endeavour. Weaken that, take out Torres, rely on a clearly unfit Gerrard, and you get what Liverpool are getting right now — their worst sequence of results for 16 years.
Should Benitez go? There is not a manager in the League, not even Alex Ferguson, who could relish working amid the divisions at Anfield. — Straits Times
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