Positives to be taken from Liverpool draw

Yesterday's goalless encounter with fellow Champions League hopefuls Liverpool at Eastlands has, perhaps understandably given the scoreline, been written off as one sooner forgotten by journalists and fans alike. Although the stats don't lie in that it was a very tight game of few clear-cut chances, i personally think there are several positives to take from the afternoon, and for both sides.

It was a huge game for us, we can't deny that, and one that we probably had to win to add weight to the argument that we're favourites for fourth place. In that respect dropping two points is disappointing, but given the players we had absent, and the form of Rafa Benitez' side over recent weeks, a point and a clean sheet certainly can't be considered a bad result.

It's odd that a game that i saw as quite end-to-end finished with just three shots on target, and has been belittled by pundits both on screen, radio, and in the written press since. Both sides will feel that they didn't really do enough in the final third, but the two managers went head-to-head in a tactical battle, both aware that a defeat could have a huge impact on their futures, and both defences played very well.

On that last point, the biggest plus point, in my opinion, was that we looked a lot more settled at the back with what i believe is our strongest central defensive duo; Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott a while. After a wobbly start to his City career, Joleon was beginning to give the impression of someone worthy of his international caps before surgery put him back. Vince has been out best defender this season, not that there's too much competition, and neither are as unpredictable as current captain Kolo Toure. Agger and Skrtel were every bit as good.

With a steadier head to his side it's no surprise that Pablo Zabaleta improved a ten-fold, having his best game in a City shirt and looking confident, hungry and in control throughout after a couple of hooky performances of late. Nigel de Jong also lived up to the big occasion once more, and Adam Johnson was spellbinding for the first half although sadly wore himself out. Even Ade proved a real handful manning the front line on his own!

On another day we'd have turned one of our half-chances into a winner, but i thought we gave it all, and you can't really ask much more than that. In all honestly, the visitors could have just as easily snook it, being the more positive side for the first and last twenty minutes and regularly threatening to expose us on the counter-attack in between. I certainly thought they looked closer to the side who beat us last season than that widely said to have been terrible for much of this.

The two sides are obviously lacking a bit of confidence at present, but they'll both get back into their stride again, and next season i envisage both being a bit closer to the 'big two', albeit not perhaps challenging for the title itself. Sunday's game was far from 'dire' or 'dull', though, it was competitive, full-blooded, just lacking the three best attackers the two clubs possess (Torres, Bellamy, Tevez) there was a lack of cutting edge in both areas.

One thing i do feel quite strongly about, however, is that the referee's assessors should look at the performance of official Peter Walton and decide if he's fit to run games at this level. Liverpool's six bookings were only the ones he managed not to miss. It's an important game, played by men, no qualms with the odd meaty challenge, but i think that Liverpool were extremely cynical when not in possession, and Mascherano in particular again proved that he's an awful cunt.

Given that Gareth Barry should have been given a second booking for a handball around the halfway line, it would probably be hypocritical of us to bemoan Mascherano's continued presence on the pitch, but it was one of many, and at times it was like every single one of their offensive players were taking turns to sythe down their men. More annoying, though, Walton awarding almost every 50/50 their way, or even completely missing staggeringly obvious calls. He was shocking.

Anyhow, a decent tear-up, i thought. Now we're heading towards the home straight, and whoever is both the strongest mentally, and perhaps has that bit of luck, will probably take that final Champions League position. I think Liverpool are huge favourites given their run-in and experience of being here several times before. We now have a tricky cup tie, then the probable champions away, plus Spurs and Fulham in the next few weeks, so it might get worse before it gets better for us, but Sunday was another case of us proving we can mix it with the real big boys (four wins and two draws from eight games so far). Let's just hope the dropped points against the so-called lesser sides don't come back to haunt us.