Man City 3 Liverpool 0

I was so dismayed by our game against City. That we lost 3-0 is not my major concern but to for City to win convincingly without needing to play well themselves was simply inexcusable. What we saw of the team in Red was complete and total ineptitude. The inability to retain the ball for more than three passes or to show any evidence of being able to play as a cohesive unit is inexcusable.

You can certainly criticise the players for their failings but overall this defeat stemmed from the manager’s team selection and tactics.

The gulf between City and Liverpool is now gargantuan as illustrated by the fact the combined cost of the players on their substitutes bench (£93m) cost more than our entire squad combined (£91m). You simply can’t hope to beat them on their own ground without a very clever tactical approach.

What did Hodgson do? He went with an archaic 4-4-2 formation. He did so with two ‘forwards’ playing as wingers; a central defender (our best one) playing out of position at left-back, and two strikers who are accustomed to playing as lone front men thrown into an unrehearsed strike partnership. The tactics appeared to be to launch the ball quickly from the back into the channels for Torres and Ngog to chase down. It was as crude and ugly to watch as it was ineffective. It was clear we were a distant second best yet Hodgson seemed incapable of affecting the game from the bench. His first substitute was made in the 78th minute by which time we were 3-0 down. His only tactical change in the game, assuming this was down to him, was getting Kuyt and Jovanovic to swap wings and that had zero impact.

I’ve heard some mitigating arguments that Mascherano’s impromptu strike and Cole’s suspension forced Roy into using the unfamiliar formation but that I don’t believe it for one second. Had Mascherano been available for selection, surely he would have replaced Lucas in the line up. Are we to believe that the Argentinean would have lined up alongside Lucas with Gerrard deployed in the hole and Ngog dropping to the bench? Certainly that is how Benitez would have lined up but Hodgson? I doubt it. The evidence was there in the game against Arsenal. Hodgson saw his strongest midfield pairing as Gerrard and Masch. We would have gone 4-4-2 with or without Mascherano. Had Cole been available it would have been 4-4-1-1 with Cole in the hole behind presumably Torres and with Ngog on the bench.

Even in the absence of Cole, Hodgson had better options than to go with 4-4-2. He could have used Maxi Rodriguez on the right enabling him to put Kuyt in the hole, on the left with Jovanovic playing behind Torres, or in central midfield (where he played for Argentina in the World Cup) releasing Gerrard to play in the hole. Alternatively, he could have used Pacheco in behind a striker. Had he not given our £17m ‘hole’ specialist Aquilani away for the season for nothing, perhaps the creative Italian could have been used there. I’ve no sympathy for Hodgson there.

The one factor for which I do have some sympathy for Hodgson is the fact that his squad is just not of a good enough standard to go to places like City and win – even though people seem to expect us to because of the respective statures of the two clubs. City have spent over £100m on proven world class players in successive summers. We have made profit in successive summers as our first team and squad have been progressively weakened. Jovanovic (free transfer) is not of the calibre of David Silva (£26m). Poulsen (£4.55m) is not of the calibre of Yaya Toure (£24m). Cole (free transfer) is not of the calibre of James Milner (£26m). You simply can’t expect a team with nothing to spend to outperform a team spending vast sums of money (£292m net since the Sheikh bought them). Not that people seem capable of adjusting their expectations. People still think we should be sweeping these teams aside with free-flowing attacking football rather than utilising our limited strengths as best we can – hence why Rafa attracted so much criticism last season.

Before the game, Andy Gray was purring with delight over Hodgson’s team selection, praising him for going with an ‘attacking’ 4-4-2 using Gerrard in his ‘best position’ of central midfield. Gray even got his little digs in at Rafa claiming our former boss would never have used this formation and would definitely have played an extra midfielder with Gerrard in the hole (even though Hodgson would have played Cole there had he been available). Gray was right about Rafa but the point is Rafa wouldn’t have lost this game 3-0. He was unbeaten at Eastlands in the previous 5 seasons. Isn’t it better to take what some perceive as a ‘negative’ approach and draw 0-0 than to adopt a so-called ‘positive’ approach and get annihilated?

Gray also claimed before the game that Hodgson’s decision to man-mark when defending corners would improve Liverpool’s defending of set pieces. Clearly Micah Richards would beg to differ after planting a free header past Reina who was distracted by the unmarked Tevez (who would have been offside had zonal marking been used without players on the post) to get a touch on the ball. In all of our games so far, including those against part-timers Rabotnicki, we have looked vulnerable from set-pieces. Bring back zonal marking!

We’ve known Gray talks shit for years but finally we have a manager willing to prove that is the case by doing all the things that Gray said Rafa should have done and our team is shite because of it. Will Gray continue to praise Hodgson if we are in the relegation zone in a few weeks time? How can he without proving himself to be the world’s biggest hypocrite?

Wipe the egg from your face, Mr Gray, and the shit from your breath.

Man City – First XI v Liverpool

Joe Hart £0m
Micah Richards £0m
Kolo Toure £16m
Vincent Kompany £6m
Joleon Lescott £22m
Nigel De Jong £17m
Yaya Toure £24m
Gareth Barry £12m
James Milner £26m
Adam Johnson £7m
Carlos Tevez £25.5m

Cost of first XI = £155.5m
Average cost per player = £14.1m

Shay Given £8m
Zabaletta £6.5m
Vieria £0m
David Silva £26m
Wright-Phillips £8.5m
Adebayor £25m
Jo £19m

Cost of bench = £93.0m
Average cost per player = £15.5m


Total cost of squad = £248.5m
Average cost per player = £13.8m

Liverpool – First XI vs City

Pepe Reina £6m
Glen Johnson £17m
Jamie Carragher £0m
Martin Skrtel £6.5m
Daniel Agger £5.8m
Dirk Kuyt £9m
Steven Gerrard £0m
Lucas Leiva £5m
Milan Jovanovic £0m
David Ngog £1.5m
Fernando Torres £20.2m

Cost of first XI = £71.0m
Average cost per player = £6.5m

Brad Jones £2.3m
Sotirios Kyrgiakos £1.5m
Fabio Aurelio £0m
Christian Poulsen £4.6m
Maxi Rodriguez £0m
Dani Pacheco £0m
Ryan Babel £11.5m

Cost of bench = £19.9m
Average cost per player = £3.3m

Total Cost of squad = £90.85m
Average cost per player = £5.0m