Ambitions bite the dust at agonised Anfield

SO, Alex Ferguson is right after all. The Manchester United manager confidently predicted during the international break that the title race will be a two-horse affair and after a weekend of contrasting fortunes for the runners and riders, his forecast appears spot on.

While Chelsea and Manchester United continue to gallop off into the distance at breakneck speed after Arsenal stumbled at the 12th of the 38 fences, Liverpool and Manchester City are the thoroughbreds who have been well and truly left behind.

The heavy rain and biting cold already ensured for a grim November lunchtime on Merseyside. A dire affair served up by inflated football talent worth around £300m made for an even bleaker afternoon.

Don’t be fooled by the scoreline. This was supposed to be a belter, a chance for two teams who have struggled to live up to recent expectations to show that they really do mean business.

Instead the expectant Anfield gallery was treated to an error-strewn game of very few highlights and plenty of lowlights, punctured by four second-half goals. This was a result which raised more questions than answers about two stuttering teams who ought to be doing better.

So what did we learn about Liverpool? Rafael Benitez insisted after his defence had endured another torrid 90 minutes that his side will secure a top four finish at the end of the season.

Who is he kidding? At this rate the five-times European champions will do well to finish high enough to secure a Europa League spot, a competition they are about to become familiar with if results don’t go their way in the Champions League this week.

The absence of Glen Johnson is no excuse for a shoddy performance by the back four which allowed City to recover from Martin Skrtel’s first goal in a red shirt to take the lead courtesy of two goals in seven minutes by Emmanuel Adebayor and Stephen Ireland.

Liverpool have conceded as many goals in the last five games as they did in their final 12 league matches of last season, when they sealed runners-up spot ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal.

Today, one third of the way into the season, Benitez’s side are 13 points adrift of Chelsea, who sit at the summit, and, more importantly, two behind fourth place.

Jamie Carragher, forced to play out of position at right-back in Johnson’s absence, made it crystal clear that the time for blaming beach-balls and injuries to key personnel for the club’s misfortune had to stop.

“The longer the run goes on you’ve probably got to look a little bit deeper than just bad luck or refereeing decisions,” said Carragher after Ryan Babel and Daniel Agger joined the list of walking wounded at Anfield. “We’ve all got to improve on the pitch.

“Obviously the run we’ve been on at the moment hasn’t been great so we could have done with a win to get things going again.”

Liverpool desperately need to give their followers a lift at the start of Merseyside derby week. Yet there are lingering doubts whether Fernando Torres, who has now missed the last two games, will feature at Goodison Park next Sunday. “You can see he is improving all the time, but I would say that he is still maybe 10 days away from being right,” said Benitez.

“The next few days will decide whether he will be fit to face Everton, but at this moment there are no guarantees.”

The one player who would provide the fans with a boost ahead of Goodison Park is Alberto Aquilani, yet after two recent substitute appearances, the Italian midfielder was reduced to the role of spectator against City.

Benitez has established a reputation for erring on the side of caution, and protecting his £20m investment after a lengthy injury is sensible. But surely the time come for the Spaniard to drop the hand-brake and throw in Aquilani for tomorrow’s must-win European game with Debrecen in Hungary.

Benitez was a bit more expansive with the style of football last season and yet this season, with poor results and low confidence, there has been a temptation not to take risks. But Liverpool desperately need a run of results and really go for it in games.

If there was one real positive for Benitez to grasp from the game it was that City, tipped at the start of the season to break the top four monopoly, are stuck in a bigger rut than Liverpool.

Although Benitez’s team have won just once in 10 outings, the last time Mark Hughes’s side took three points was when the evenings were still light and Chelsea were in disarray following a 3-1 defeat at Wigan.

Since defeating West Ham 3-1 at Eastlands on September 28, City have drawn all six league games — the equivalent of 12 points dropped or four defeats.

This was a crossroads fixture for Hughes’ team yet they left Anfield full of regret after allowing Yossi Benayoun to undo all the hard work after battling from behind to take the lead. Their failure to put daylight between themselves and Liverpool could come back to haunt them later in the season.

This was the third successive game they have failed to defend a lead. Until they address that problem then City, set to welcome back Robinho for Saturday’s game with Hull, can forget about the Champions League.

“We had a chance to come away from Liverpool with a win, but we just have to concentrate more,” said Adebayor, after his fifth goal for the club failed to produce a win. “I don’t think there’s such a thing as a good draw and it’s always better to win, but that’’s football.

“We just have to keep focussed now, and once we win again hopefully we can get back on a winning streak.”

REFEREE: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) 6: Rightly booked Carragher for his lunge on former team-mate Bellamy although Lucas can feel harshly treated for his caution. There was also a strong offside hint when Ireland scored.

MATCH RATING: ** Failed to live up to it’s pre-match billing despite the goals. The blustery conditions and injuries to Agger and Babel cannot be used as an excuse for a woeful first half.