I dont pay too much attention to commentators.. they are after all human and are prone to prejudice as well.

Yea, the yelllow card on Suarez was stupid.

This is another game we COULD have won.... and probably SHOULD have got a point. But it wasnt our day... Sterling missing a sitter - but he IS young and hopefully he learns.

Skrtel was immense with his blocking (and shirt-tugging)....

A loss is a loss, but there is a huge difference between giving a good fight and roll over plus humiliation. We didn't get played off the park and were really strong at pressing and link ups between the front 3 were giving them trouble.

City is a huge team. I'd put my money for them to win it this year and do well in Europe. I think we did well, gutted on Sterling's offside and overhit, but lucky that Skrtel did not concede them penalties.

Also, it was right to replace Coutinho. He looked out of sorts in the 2nd half, but Moses didn't do anything at all!

Impressed with Cissokho's bravery to bomb forward despite knowing that City is attacking his side seeing him as the weak link.

Agree. Cissokho impressed me. Very energetic performance for a big game. I was having doubt on him too but I was thinking, make or bust for him. So he better gives it all. And he did. Not too bad at all.

Quick intelligent running. Only the connecting part with Suarez and Couts need improving. Otherwise a rating of 8

Cissokho was shet but this morning he's good..i'm more nervous bout Sakho...lots of misplace pass..lucky other players can cover

Precisely. They have already annihilated the other big sides bar Chelsea. It took guts not to build a wall in front of goal but instead to exchange punches with the biggest heavyweight in the league, in their own back yard no less. I realise that compliments are rare after a defeat but I personally feel the lads deserve a pat on the back for a fighting display. There's no rule saying you can't recognise effort. We put in a performance but ultimately did not get a result but it wasn't for the want of trying.

This is where I feel expectations need to be managed. I get a sense that it changes after each game. Given the squad we have, I feel we're punching above our weight (or perhaps this is actually what we're capable of). Either way, it just shows what a great job we've been doing despite fielding players who have come under intense criticism and scrutiny like Allen and Henderson. Incidentally, our midfield has looked much stronger since Gerrard got crocked and I think it's admirable that the 2 players I mentioned in particular have played through all the criticism and are still as committed to the club. Having superstars is one thing but I'd prefer to have players who want to play for the club. Henderson in particular dismissed any notion of leaving despite being linked with a move away from the club and he is now an integral member of the squad.

Brendan Rodgers has done a great job at coaching the lads. Some of them have improved immensely. The fact that we are scaling dizzying heights from just a season ago is testament how much work he's put into his job. Fans wanted us to challenge for the top four and that's exactly what we're doing despite having a squad which on paper, is weaker than the clubs around us on the table. This just means that the team is playing well as a unit. Glad he's been offered a new contract.

Speaking of Moses not doing anything, I think Rodgers could well save the couple of million on loan signings... His loan signings, from Sahin,Moses to Aly all not working..

I still think Moses is a decent player but the problem is that he's fing lazy. He doesn't press at all so it's no wonder Sterling gets picked over him. There was one moment late in the game where Suarez was pressing hard to force a mistake and Moses was just a few yards away ball watching the whole thing. Sahin is a class player but he really cbf to wait around for us to sort things out. Aly imo is lacking a bit of aggression in his game - but i think he played well last night.

Can't believe we nearly ditched Hendo to sweeten the deal for Dempsey. Really dodged a bullet there. For once i admire and applaud our utter incompetence in transfer dealing.

Aye, that would have made no sense. Firstly, we paid a lot for Hendo and offering him plus cash would mean taking a huge loss on the lad. Secondly, the lad was yet to be given a fair shot in a position he favoured. Just look how well he's done without Gerrard in the squad.

it's better than signing them

There were some murmurings much earlier on about how FSG were stingy despite sanctioning the sizeable purchases of players like Carrol, Allen, Downing and Henderson. Thing it we need to remind ourselves that they have always said they would spend when it made sense and I think the signing of Carrol specifically has made them even more prudent. This isn't to say however that they will not spend at any cost.

Last season I was trying to point out that development happens in stages and FSG's first priority was to trim the fat and that led to an exodus of players such as Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodrigues. We needed to bring out wage bill down to improve our cash flow and we did. We suffered initially as the likes of Henderson had to now fill in for Dirk Kuyt who was an Anfield favourite but we're doing pretty well now. The next thing FSG wanted to do was to invest in young talent which we have acquired in the likes of Ilori, Countinho, Alberto and so on. Now FSG have begun to show how serious they were about keeping hold of star performers by offering Suarez a huge contract after repeatedly rebuffing offers for him and Brendan Rodgers a sweeter deal. FSG have always maintained that it will be a long journey and they weren't planning for instant success and so far, they've kept true to their word. Well, if you forget the stadium extension for the time being but I've no doubt that if we continue to improve, it's only a matter of time we'll have more seats on the terrace. So far, I'm glad that we are in the hands of FSG as I can already see them delivering what they promised a step at a time.

just watched the post match interview with BR and this is the excerpt from the interview:

Interviewer: In what way u think the refereeing is horrendous?

BR : where u wan me to start?

Didn't realise Skrtel made 0 tackles.

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2013/12/27/...ing-statistics/?

now you know how it feels like to be an arsenal fan. anti-arsenal FA. 2 loses because of poor biased refereeing and the other, well.. u know against manu aka the FA

But he made several crucial blocks, some of them were goal bound. I think the mo for both teams was not to go down preemptively as both sides were quick to capitalize from errors.

I guess, blocks, interceptions are not counted as tackles. AHH complications!

we've been been through all that since last decade.

Every fan will claim that refs are biased against them mainly because they don't remember the moments refs made dodgy decisions in favour of them. Skrtel for example could have given away a hatful of penalties by now. Still, it doesn't change the fact that Lee Mason was awful this morning but to suggest a conspiracy against any one team is far fetched.