Gerrard Penalty Earns Advantage

A penalty from Steven Gerrard earned Liverpool a 1-0 win over Manchester City in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final.

Eight days earlier Liverpool lost 3-0 to Man City at the Etihad Stadium in the league and so looked to start the match brightly in order to avoid a second New Year embarrassment. However Man City’s last game was a 3-2 defeat to rivals Manchester United, knocking the blues out of the F.A Cup, meaning that they too would not be taking the Carling Cup lightly.

Yet it was the away team that started the better, with Liverpool keeping possession of the ball before putting Andy Carroll through on goal, only for the out of form striker to fire straight at Joe Hart.

Hart was called into action a few patient moments later pushing the ball around the post from a Gerrard shot. The corner found Downing free outside the box but the wingers volley, despite a flick on, was saved again by the strong hand of the City goalkeeper.

However Hart could do nothing from the resultant corner as Savic caught Agger on the knee after the Dane had controlled the ball in the box, leaving Lee Mason no option but to award a penalty.

Gerrard stepped up confidently and blasted the ball into the far left-hand corner of the Manchester City goal putting the visitors 1-0 up after 11minutes.

The game began to become slightly more tepid with a few hard tackles flying in amongst a few frustrated City players before it once more cooled back down.

21 minutes in and the only other bit of significance was Jay Spearing’s hamstring going forcing Kenny Dalglish to bring able substitute Charlie Adam into the fray.

The Scotsman’s first piece of action was to foul Balotelli 30 yards out. However, the Italian thumped City’s first real opportunity harmlessly into the Liverpool wall.

The match continued as an unthreatening affair, neither team controlling the game, with misplaced passes of plenty. Decisive plays were nearly none existent. A cross did find Carroll’s head but it went comfortably wide.

Balotelli then left the pitch 36minutes in. The enigmatic Italian looked disinterested, but maybe his injury did not aid matters. Nasri came on in an attempt to eclipse his recent poor performances.

He certainly started swiftly, creating space on the edge of the area before having City’s first shot on target . Richard’s then powered passed Glen Johnson and dragged the ball back to James Milner but his off-balanced strike went over from 10 yards.

City’s increased presence in the match gained a free kick in the last minute of the first half after a clumsy tackle from Gerrard. Yet, the shot from Adam Johnson summed up the half, lacking in quality.

The second half started as the latter one finished. Laboured in the middle of the park with slow passing the normality. Everyone getting a feel for the ball nobody providing that spark to cause an impact. Liverpool’s structured defensive unit giving no opportunity for attacking flair.

Kelly then presented City with a lifeline, passing the ball back to Reina with Ageuro lurking. The Spaniard did enough to force the Argentine wide, keeping the shot off-target, sparing Kelly’s blushes.

58minutes into the game and Richards bulleted through a crowd of Liverpool shirts to head a Milner corner straight at Reina from point black range. City’s increasing pressure made Dalglish replace winger Downing with left-back Jose Enrique.

Dzeko replaced an ineffectual Adam Johnson with 20 minutes to go, the Englishman showed glimpses of his former running capability but his final ball never made the cut.

Nasri created some space with a quick one-two but like the rest of his teammates he failed to hit the target.

The final Manchester City substitution saw Nigel De Jong brought off to be replaced by Kolarov. His first piece of action enabled him to whip a dangerous free-kick in from out on the right but nobody was there to meet the deep cross.

With only 10minutes left Kenny Dalglish looked to keep the one gaol advantage for the second leg at Anfield, bringing on Jamie Carragher for a quiet Craig Bellamy.

Lee Mason produced then produced the most excitement, giving Carragher and Nasri the first yellow cards of the match for a brief entanglment with a little bit of handbags after but then the game continued in nonentity.

Ageuro had one last opportunity to produce something of quality however his header from a Nasri cross brushed the top of the net.

So Liverpool take a one goal lead back to Anfield for the second leg. A much improved performance from Manchester City will be needed in order to prevent the Reds from obtaining their first visit to the new Wembley.