Liverpool v Manchester City: five things we learned - The Guardian (blog)

1) Bill Shankly got it wrong

It isn't more important than life or death. Craig Bellamy was so distraught about Gary Speed's death there were probably parts of the day when he felt he could barely function, let alone play a key match against his former club. "It was best for us to make the decision for him," the manager, Kenny Dalglish, explained of Bellamy's withdrawal before the match. "Gary was a mentor for him, he admired and looked up to him. There's no way a game of football is more important than grieving." Bellamy, a scorer against three of his former clubs, must have spent a good part of the week imagining exacting some form of revenge on Roberto Mancini for the way he was ostracised at City, but suddenly none of that felt particularly relevant. Shankly's was a great quote. Truly great, in fact. But not true.

2) Manchester City's defence has sprung a leak

That might seem a little harsh when Mancini's team have answered a call to demonstrate greater adventure this season, accumulating more goals at this stage than any other top-flight club since Tottenham Hotspur in 1963-64. But just think how formidable they would be if they could combine that kind of attacking zest – this was the first time they have not scored at least twice in any of their league fixtures – with the parsimonious defending that has made clean sheets feel almost the norm at times. They managed 29 in total last season, including 18 in the league. Joe Hart was the clear winner of the Golden Glove award – the goalkeepers' equivalent of the Golden Boot – and the players talked of a manager who considered clean sheets to be "holy". They are now on a run of only one in 10 and that will pain a man of Mancini's defensive principles.

3) Anfield is struggling for goals

The official announcer gave the goal to Charlie Adam, but he was being highly generous considering the way Joleon Lescott already had his head in his own hands. The truth was that Adam's shot, like so many others from those in red, was going wide. At other times Joe Hart was brilliant for City, and this has been Liverpool's problem at Anfield this season: struggling for goals at the ground where they used to say the Kop would suck the ball into the back of the net. They came into this match having accumulated the third highest amount of shots per home game in the league but, more tellingly, the third lowest conversion rate. Lescott's error means Liverpool have nine goals from their seven home games. To put it into context, that's the same as third-from-bottom Bolton Wanderers and fewer than newly promoted Norwich City and the top division's latest crisis club, Sunderland.

4) Stewart Downing is spending too long on the edges

He cost £20m and, for that, Liverpool might have expected more than to be approaching December without the former Aston Villa player having created, or scored, a single goal. Downing's form has drifted after an encouraging start and the longer it continues he may find some of the scrutiny that is fixed on Andy Carroll heading his way. His sympathisers will point out that he has kept his place and these are still only the early parts of his career at Anfield. Nonetheless, it was disappointing to see him so reluctant to take on Micah Richards on a day when there were only sporadic flashes to demonstrate why Dalglish wanted to bring him to the club in the first place.

5) Martio Balotelli: still too young, too long

There have been times during Balotelli's recent burst of scoring when many observers have been tempted to wonder if this permanently perplexing footballer had finally turned over a new leaf. Those who knew him best shook their heads, chuckled and issued the kind of fasten-your-seatbelts warning that comes from experience of knowing how he works. This was his third red card for City in 15 months, and he will miss the Carling Cup quarter-final at Arsenal on Tuesday. The truth is he might not have played anyway. The more disappointing aspect was the immaturity of the player, culminating in the now-obligatory touchline argument with Mancini, as if refusing to accept he had done anything wrong. It was a naughty-child routine we have seen too many times.