2 Errors, 2 Goals and 2 Points Dropped by Liverpool Yet Again

Manchester united go 9 points clear as City fail to win against Liverpool. Fair to say, the reds deserved to win but yet again the errors lead to conceding goals and eventually losing precious points in chase of the final champions league spot.
Although 2 points gained from the fixtures against Arsenal and City that too away, seem not so bad, but Liverpool are only themselves to blame for letting teams comeback. In midweek, they lead Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates and the Gunners turned it around in a matter of minutes as merseysiders lost concentration.
Liverpool’s offense has improved considerably as compared to last season but at the same time their defense has disappointed. Against City, the reds controlled most part of the game and dominated the Champions at Etihad stadium, yet 2 school boy errors cost them 2 more points.
First, against the run of play, Liverpool completely turned off as City took advantage from a throw in and Milner set up Dzeko to tap the ball in the empty net. At this level, such defending is unacceptable. Liverpool had a lot of bodies to sort out the throw in but perhaps they went to sleep and City capitalized to take the lead.
Second, we do not know what struck Pepe Reina’s mind as he left the goal at mercy to chase the ball at the right edge of the box. Aguero easily stepped aside Liverpool’s goalie and slot the ball in the empty net from a very very tight angle. Take nothing away from the Argentine’s quality strike but it was clearly Reina’s fault who could only watch in despair and mourn on his stupid error that cost his team.

Despite those two cruicial errors, there were a lot of positives for the visitors as well. Sturridge played his 100th game in the top flight and was clearly man of the match on the day with a superb performance. Completed more than 90% of his passes, was a constant threat for City’s defense and adding to that scored a stunning strike. Sturrdige could have won it for the reds in the final minutes as well but Joe Hart saved his toe poke shot.
Steven Gerrard rolled back the years with a wonder goal scored from 35 odd yards out. Liverpool captain chested the ball to set himself up for a trademark Stevie G volley to give his side the lead. Joe Hart had no chance of saving that one.
Overall a dominating performance by Liverpool, but the errors meant that they still have not beaten a side in the top half of the table. The worry for Liverpool over the past few years was that they used to beat the big teams, but were inconsistent against weaker oppositions. This season, it is completely the other way around.
Liverpool are now 9 points behind Tottenham who currently occupy the final Champions League spot. The progress is inevitable but in the end, the results are the best judge of progress and that have not been in their favor. Best teams should win the match when dominating; in fact best teams do win when playing bad as well. With 13 games left, qualifying for Champions league seems a towering task, can they do it, only time will tell.