Manchester City re-discovered their goal-scoring form to move three points clear at the top of the Premier League with victory over Liverpool at a rain-swept Etihad Stadium.
City - who had failed to score in their last two games - went ahead when Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina allowed Sergio Aguero's 10th minute shot to squirm under him and in.
Yaya Toure then headed in the Blues' second from a David Silva corner after 33 minutes.
When Gareth Barry was sent off for a second yellow after 73 minutes it looked like City were in for a nervy finish.
But when Yaya was adjudged to have been brought down by Martin Skrtel after a surging run, James Milner dispatched the penalty into the top corner.
Soul searching
After all the head-hanging and soul-searching, Christmas was just a bad headache rather than something more terminal.
The statistics now read that, since defeat at Chelsea, City have conceded one goal in five games - and that was offside.
And yet there have been people calling for the manager’s head, which is beyond insane.
Even in the goalless draw at West Brom and the defeat at Sunderland, all that was lacking was a little more zip, or perhaps a touch of luck.
We got both in this game, as City – with Silva restored and looking better for his rest – brighter, but still needing a goalkeeping error to break an unheard-of two-game blank spell.
Kenny Dalglish had impact players Maxi Rodriguez and Craig Bellamy on the bench, along with Steven Gerrard – quite a threesome to have against opponents likely to tire badly in the last half-hour.
It was a plan that was spiked by City’s early goal, and by the time Gerrard and Bellamy arrived – the latter to resounding applause - the visitors were two down.
City made six changes, and it would have been more had Mario Balotelli not reported ill, along with Samir Nasri.
Thankfully for the Blues, the changes were all positive, with the most potent full-back combination of Micah Richards and Gael Clichy back in situ, and David Silva, James Milner and Sergio Aguero all coming in.
When the Blues finally got some luck – a commodity sorely missing over the festive period – it was Reina who gifted it.
The approach play was neat, and Silva’s touch to set up Aguero was typically pleasing, but when the Argentinian fired in his shot, there appeared to be little danger.
Reina, for such a talented keeper, made a horrendous hash of it, letting the ball bounce under him and into the net.
Liverpool still had plenty of intent as well, Hart hesitantly beating away Charlie Adam’s free kick. He showed that he has learned, as this time the ball was diverted well away from goal.
The Blues have clearly worked out that near-post corners are a weakness for the Anfielders, as Vincent Kompany scored from one in the match on Merseyside.
He almost repeated the dose as Reina kept out his powerful header, but from the resulting corner City delivered to the same area and Yaya Toure nodded it in off the bar.
Now the challenge for the Blues was to see out the game, and Kompany set the example with a magnificent block to deny Dirk Kuyt from Andy Carroll’s knock-down just before half time.
Things looked tricky when Barry unluckily picked up a red card for two borderline yellow cards, with 20 minutes to play, but City’s response was devastating.
With Yaya playing on the break, the Blues sprang out of their defensive formation, and the big man was tripped by Skrtel as he powered into the box.
That should have been red for denial of a goalscoring opportunity, but Milner despatched the spot kick and the Blues were home and hosed.
In fact, they might have made it more emphatic as sub Adam Johnson arced a trademark shot beyond Reina and against the post.
The win stretches the Blues’ Etihad winning run to 15 straight matches – one more and they will equal a 91-year-old club record.
It also means their unbeaten home run now stands at 30 matches in all competitions, 28 of which have been wins. Mancini out, indeed!
What is your verdict on the action? Have your say.
Manchester City 3 Liverpool 0 - Stuart Brennan's verdict
January 03, 2012
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Make sure all the lids are on your bins tonight. Great result and I didnt expect anything less from our Roberto, the best manager in England. I just love it when we get sweet revenge against that lot. Good night :0)
A bit one sided to send Barry off when Skrtel was fouling Edin all night. Can't imagine what would hgave happened if it had have been Mario!
Not the best night to showcase skills, but a good win to get the lads back on track.
Blood & Thunder and lightening strikes. Well deserved 3-0. If City sharpen up with rapid passing united will get hurt even more. liverpool game was a good warm up. City will know how to take the games to take them to the Final. Well done City.
Amazing! Largely outplayed for the whole ninety minutes v Liverpool, yet win 3-0 thanks to a goalkeeping error, a set-piece, and a penalty that wasn’t. Lucky City? I should say so.
Amazing! Largely outplayed for the whole ninety minutes v Liverpool, yet win 3-0 thanks to a goalkeeping error, a set-piece, and a penalty that wasn’t. Lucky City? I should say so.
Thought we played okay, well pleased with the scoreline. But the Ref was awful, Adam could have gone in the first half and two soft cards for Barry and no red with the penalty. I initially thought the ref was being conservative but ended up being one eyed shocking. Well top of the league lets hope the magpies can nick something tomorrow.
Dzecko was abysmal, Barry is an idiot and Kompany was outstanding. nuff sed !
When you're having a dip in form you'll take an average performance & an ugly 1 - 0 win. So 3-0 is a big bonus. Liverpool made it hard at times & has a lot of possession - City sat back too much but Liverpool couldn't do much with their players who aren't really any better than average.
Kompany was magnificent - 10/10 & totally in charge.
Hate to say it but Dzeko had a very poor game with his confidence at rock bottom tonight. Just needs a goal or two.... & our support!!
O yes the kitty has been fed tonight normal service has been resumed, bring Sunday on cant wait see you there.
Fantastic win Blues against a team that will be pushing Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal for other three CL places. We now have the best defence and best attack stats, time to kick on now Blues. COME ON CITY!!!!
Great great result. Not super free flowing and we lost out in midfield a little at times, but towering at the back (Vinny and Clichy especially) and good when we needed to be. Thought Milner had a good game and YaYa in patches.
Barry's sending off was ludicrous - but I guess it gives him a games rest. Poor ref.
Vincent Kompany was awesome tonight and marshalled the defence as well as any City skipper since Dave Watson. Despite the media going on about the size of our our squad it shows that we are weak in key areas. Buy Bobby buy.
And that ladies and gentlemen is how you answer the critics, a brilliant display from the lads when the pressure was on and the fixture list had given the opposition a definite advantage with 2 days extra rest. We controlled that from start to finish and our response to that utterly ridiculous sending off was fantastic - Yaya bulldozer Toure, the first bulldozer designed with the finesse of a Ferrari and what an emphatic penalty from the hugely impressive Milner. Everyone really put in a performance tonight and it was great to hear the crowd get behind Dzeko who had a decent game - all the lads fought hard for that win and the quality was on show once again.
Maybe Barry will benefit from a break but that second yellow was a scarily inept decision, then for some reason no card for the Liverpool defender who clipped yaya for the pen. I dont care if he was running whilst doing the "see, im not touching him" hands raised gesture - it was a foul...............
MOTM for me was Milner but the whole team responded to that confusing result just 2 days before, well done to Mancini and all the boys - COME ON CITY!!!!!
Great result, welll played city! Worried about Yaya going to the Cup of Nations.
We are top of the pile, come on City!
If only I'd followed the box, 22 with the three in it.
WELL DONE BLUES ..WELL DONE BOBBI -
A good all round effort from the team with the exception of Dzeko ..sorry Blues he aint good enough !! Body language said it all ...I DONT WANT TO BE HERE !!
3 points in front....Blue Moon is Rising ...
COME ON BARCODES ...GIVE EM A STOMPING ...
CITY FOR LIFE !!
as a supporter who despised chuckle brother number 1 in his playing days, I am impressed with his unbiased comments......Dzecko ( apart from the pass to Ya Ya) was appalling tonight, he cannot hold a ball or actually win one in the air...not going to comment about his shooting abilities..well done the rest of the guys ...
So many rags watching our games these days!
No doubt you will be one of the first plastics to cross the divide eh?
The big difference tonight was the goal keepers. If we had theirs and they had ours different ball game. Hart keep us in the game and held on to a wet ball in really bad condition, good keeping. Reina ??? rest my case. Well done Joe.
Great result & played well within themselves tonight . On another note is it not time for the FA or FIFA to do something about all the reglious crap that seems to be infesting football.
Mainly catholic players pointing to the sky & head t to t to shape a cross , last week that little Pee was on his knees praying in the centre circle before the kickoff while the whole stadium had to wait for him to finish.
If people want to pray then do it before they go on the pitch or after they come off . It is rediculous .Next it will be confession at the side of the pitch everytime they commit a foul
Nani does it yet he is a cheat with his diving ,how does that square with be holy religous.
All that crap yes crap should be kept out of football
What a scrap that was! Huge bust-lunging performance tonight, and how many headers did Capt'n Vince win? He was truly immense.
Liverpool made us fight, and I for one like their style of play, especially with Downing on one wing and Bellamy on the other. But it's a measure of just how polished we have become that we could take all they threw at us and still march off with a handsome 3-0 win. And just how leaky is our defence? One goal conceded in five games. Is that watertight enough for our critics in the media I wonder???
Reffy let Skrtl off handball in area, numerous fouls, and he should have been sent off or at least booked for the penalty offence don't you think? I smell fish.
As an obviously keen Manchester City watcher, you will also know that the Mackem's goal was offside.
Thanks for watching.
Great win lads! Vinnie K, what a player; what a captain! Loved the way he snarled at Carroll after he dived for a penalty. Revenge is so, so, so sweet.
Dodgy Referee !!!
No Blues have been calling for Mancini's head, I think you'll find that they are the moronic Trafford Town Clowns that post on the Manchester pages masquerading as Blues, and there are many if them.
The only people calling for the manager's head will be rags after they are destroyed on Sunday.