Manchester City 0 Liverpool 0: Lack of achievement erodes Benitez's standing on home front

A week in which Liverpool completed a serene progression through to the semi-finals of the Champions League ended with them labouring towards a goalless draw against a distinctly average Manchester City side.

Liverpool's European opponents, PSV, were good enough over two legs to eliminate Arsenal in the previous round. It is hard to imagine City doing that at present.

A bright start on Saturday was characterised by some sophisticated retention of possession from Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso with Steven Gerrard, playing ahead of them and behind Dirk Kuyt, popping up where City least wanted him to. But the longer the game went on, the more fractured it became and the less Liverpool's cultured midfielders saw of the ball.

A change of tactics in the second half, with the labouring Kuyt given some much-needed support in the shape of Peter Crouch, failed to restore their superiority and the match petered out into a forgettable goalless draw.

Which was not a disastrous result for either team. City were content with a point because their confidence remains fragile - they seem content to see out this difficult season without incurring further embarrassment. Liverpool, aware of the generous nature of their Premiership run-in (all of their remaining opponents are in the lower half of the table) are methodically closing in on third place.

But a distant third, for Liverpool, should not be good enough and almost three years into the reign of Rafael Benitez they seem no nearer to ending their long wait for a League title than they were on the day he arrived. This was a prime example of the reason why - the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea would surely have dispatched a City side who may be five games unbeaten but have not scored a home League goal since New Year's Day.

To listen to Benitez, who celebrates his 47th birthday today, it was tempting to conclude that his approach to the game was simply too considered.

"We have been watching City and they like to play on the counter-attack so we had to control the situation and control the game," he said. "They wanted us to come forward. The key should have been in the wide areas but we couldn't take our chances and that was the difference."

Five points from their remaining games will guarantee Liverpool's place in the Champions League qualifying rounds next season. They may have done enough already, with Bolton and Everton facing testing run-ins. Thoughts are surely already turning to the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea on Wednesday week, and if Liverpool progress then this result, and others like it, will be consigned to history.

But continued success in Europe, however impressive, does not change the fact that, if Benitez's reign at Anfield is to be considered a great one, his team's domestic form will have to improve immeasurably.

Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Isaksson; Onuoha, Dunne, Distin, Ball; Sun Jihai; Beasley, Barton, Johnson, Vassell (Corradi, 82); Mpenza (Ireland, 62). Substitutes not used: Weaver (gk), Samaras, Trabelsi.

Liverpool (4-4-1-1): Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Arbeloa; Pennant (Crouch, 76), Mascherano (Zenden, 85), Alonso, Riise (Gonzalez, 65); Gerrard; Kuyt. Substitutes not used: Dudek (gk), Hyypia.

Referee: U Rennie (South Yorkshire).

Booked: Manchester City Barton. Liverpool Alonso, Finnan.

Man of the match: Johnson.

Attendance: 45,883.