Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish watched Manchester City sweep his side away 3-0 at Eastlands last night and instantly bemoaned the team’s lack of a finishing touch.

 

Goals have been the problem for Liverpool all season long and with Luis Suarez serving the first match of his eight-game ban, the Reds were looking to Andy Carroll to lead the line and the likes of Stewart Downing and Dirk Kuyt to chip in.

 

Sergio Aguero gave City the lead after just ten minutes when his shot squirmed under Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina before Yaya Toure rose highest to head home a second before half time.

 

City may have seen Gareth Barry sent off in the second half, but it did not change the game and Roberto Mancini’s troops added a third from the penalty spot via James Milner after Yaya Toure had been fouled by Martin Skrtel.

 

Liverpool did have efforts on goal however and could not blame being outplayed for their failure to find the back of the net and apply at least some pressure on the home side.

 

"I’m not so sure the scoreline reflects the way the game went", said Dalglish post-match.

 

"I’m not saying we deserved to win, but I think the lesson we’ve learnt from tonight is that if we’re not clinical we’re going to suffer.

 

"There are a lot of things that happened tonight that we can correct ourselves, so we need to go and do that.

 

"We had a good opportunity to open the scoring, but then we lost the first goal when we’d had possession from a throw-in.

 

"The second goal was a corner and we had a warning just seconds before it. The third was when they were down to ten men, Toure ran the length of the pitch and we gave away a penalty kick.

 

"It’s a harsh lesson, but it’ll be even harsher if we don’t learn from it."

 

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