Micah Richards labelled Manchester City’s performance against Liverpool ‘very disappointing’ after the Premier League champions let a one goal lead slip at the Etihad Stadium and had to settle of a share of the points in Saturday’s early kick off.
City started the match on the front foot with Nathan Ake bringing a scuffed clearance from Alisson under control before driving past Trent Alexander-Arnold and slipping a fine pass into the box for Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker brought up his 50th Premier League goal with a quick touch and spin before slotting the ball past Alisson.
The hosts had a second goal disallowed after Manuel Akanji was judged to have fouled Alisson before Ruben Dias tapped home from close range but City never fully took control of the game.
Alexander-Arnold finished off a fine move in the 80th minute to equalise for the Reds and earn them a well-earned point.
“I think City will be frustrated,” said Richards on Sky Sports after the match, “After Haaland scored that goal, you’re thinking can they kick on and go up a gear but that never happened.
“Man City will be disappointed that they couldn’t go up another gear. Very disappointing.”
Fellow Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool striker, Daniel Sturridge, agreed adding that Liverpool will be ‘delighted’ with securing a point against the league leaders.
“[Liverpool] will be delighted with the result to be honest,” he said, “I thought that Manchester City were very good today but Liverpool continued to press on. In the second half they changed their mentality and there was an emphasis on pressing.”
Jamie Carragher, meanwhile, believed that neither side did enough to win and claimed Liverpool were fortunate to secure a point following a couple of mistakes from their goalkeeper.
He said: “They would have lost [the match] last year. We saw the performance [from Liverpool] last season and there’s no doubt that something is building.
“I think both teams still lacked something, maybe on the back of the international break, it didn’t feel like either team really deserved to win the game.
“Alisson didn’t have his best game on the ball today and could have cost Liverpool a couple of times with his clearances.”
The 1-1 draw means Pep Guardiola’s side stay top of the table and lead Liverpool by a point.
