Barclays Premier League – December 30th 2007 – Result
Manchester City 0 Liverpool 0
Only one team were looking for a win in this game, and it wasn’t Manchester City. Liverpool will be frustrated at the chances they wasted in the match, City delighted that they kept the Reds out in a game where they set out to play as if they were the away team.
Liverpool keep hold of fourth place, but the dropped points are more frustrating given Manchester United’s defeat yesterday. However Manchester City were never going to be an easy team to beat, but the frustration is added to in that City could have tried to win this, and in turn make the game more entertaining.
Rafa was forced to play Alvaro Arbeloa in the centre of defence due to injury problems, but the Spaniard was rarely tested, certainly after the first half-hour. Unusually for Rafa he used only one substitute, and left it late for that: Ryan Babel on for Kewell with little over 15 minutes left. Steven Gerrard had an off day by his standards, as did Fernando Torres who never seemed to get into the full pace of the game after an early clash with Micah Richards.
Manchester City: 25 Hart, 4 Onuoha, 2 Richards, 22 Dunne, 3 Ball, 7 Ireland (28 Gelson, 61), 21 Hamann, 16 Corluka, 15 Petrov, 11 Elano (10 Bianchi, 70), 12 Vassell (8 Geovanni, 74)
Unused subs: 1 Isaksson, 24 Garrido
Liverpool: 25 Reina, 3 Finnan, 23 Carragher, 17 Arbeloa, 12 Aurelio, 11 Benayoun, 8 Gerrard, 20 Mascherano, 7 Kewell (19 Babel, 74), 9 Torres, 18 Kuyt
Unused subs: 30 Itandje, 6 Riise, 10 Voronin, 14 Alonso
Bookings: Torres 85
BBC Stats: (City – Liverpool)
Possession: 54% – 46%
Shots on target: 4 – 11
Shots off target: 2 – 8
Corners: 3 – 9
Fouls: 4 – 7
Sky Stats: (City – Liverpool)
Possession: 40.3% – 59.7%
Shots on Target: 0 – 6
Shots off Target: 2 – 10
Corners: 2 – 9
Fouls: 7 – 9
Referee: Uriah Rennie
Attendance: 47,321
can i just say please try to get the stats correct.. there is nothing more annoying then a report which is not factual!
Hi Nick,
The stats were taken as always from those provided officially and used by the likes of the BBC and the Press Association. However these differ from those provided by Sky.
We’ve not personally counted shots on or off target, or corners, so we have to rely on these stats as provided.
I’ve actually updated the entry to show both the BBC’s stats and Sky’s stats.
Jim.
thats great…
it is amazung the difference between the 2.. BBC is very far off the mark.
Nick