Drab Stalemate Post Match Groan Reaction

It wasn't pretty. Again. City appear to have ditched flair in favour of make sure caution with each passing game. Here's how the key characters saw the Liverpool stalemate...

Roberto Mancini:

'We were playing against a top side and we played very well as a team. We didn't concede any chances to Liverpool, which is important, but we didn't really create any clear-cut chances ourselves. They are a hard team to score goals against and a draw was the right result. It was a tough game and you get tackles like that in hard games, but for me, there were too many fouls.

'There are four teams who could end the season in fourth position and we must fight game after game because we have a good chance to be the fourth placed team.

'Carlos has been away eight days and I think it's been difficult for him. I hope he will be back tomorrow or within the next two days. I spoke with him three days ago and he said he'd had a family problem that he has now resolved so I hope he will be back at least in time for the weekend because we need him.'

Rafa Benitez:

'It was a difficult game. We didn't have clear chances, they didn't have clear chances, but we had more possession and but for the pass in the final third it could have been different. I felt both teams were defending well and were well organised but the incident with Yossi (Benayoun) could also have been different.

'Yossi felt he could have had a penalty. He was trying to continue, you cannot blame the player. He was trying to go forward, to score. But we can be talking this for a while, you can say too much.'

Gareth Barry:

'It was one of those games with no real chances. There was a lot at stake and you could tell. We are slightly disappointed not to win as the home team. But anyone watching the game would sense that neither team wanted to lose. There was so much to lose if the other team got three points. It was very tactical out there.

'Shay Given only had one shot to save, and Pepe Reina only had the one shot from Emmanuel Adebayor. It was just so tight, because nobody on that pitch wanted to lose the game.

'You have to show Liverpool respect. They are not having as good a season as they would like, but they are still a hard team to beat. We will hopefully be able to build on a solid point.'

Meanwhile, it's a good job for footballing assassin Javier Mascherano that his boss isn't Stoke's Tony Pulis or that he was playing against the hack reviled Manchester City yesterday otherwise he would be undergoing a trial by media for his disgraceful challenge on Barry late on for which he should have seen red.

Barry to his credit said:

'I was facing the other way, so I didn't even see who it was. It was just a kick, it's nothing. I'm fine.'

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