Liverpool 1 - 1 Manchester City: Charlie Adam points to Liverpool progress as Joe Hart saves City

LIVERPOOL midfielder Charlie Adam believes his side are improving after they drew 1-1 with Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester City at Anfield.

The Reds equalised Vincent Kompany’s opener for City when Adam’s shot took a huge deflection off Joleon Lescott to leave goalkeeper Joe Hart completely wrong-footed.

Both teams looked for the winner with the hosts relentless, especially after substitute Mario Balotelli was sent off.

Adam said: “Manchester City are a top side and we knew it would be difficult. But we stuck to our guns and we played well. We are progressing the way we want to progress.”

City can view this as a point gained rather than two lost as they survived a serious examination of their title credentials to extend their unbeaten Premier League record to 13.

But for goalkeeper Joe Hart, the visitors may have tasted a league defeat for the first time since 7 May.

Having coasted through the domestic campaign, scoring at will, this was the first time this season Roberto Mancini’s side had failed to score more than once in a league match. Credit must go to Liverpool who, after a slow start, enhanced their reputation as genuine top-four contenders with a second-half performance which produced everything but a winning goal.

City may have previously won only once at Anfield in the last 30 years – in May 2003 –but they played the first half like they were the home team. They passed the ball around with consummate ease, with both Samir Nasri and David Silva threading threatening balls down the side of the two centre-backs.

Liverpool tried to employ the same high, pressing tactics which were so effective in last week’s victory at Chelsea and it worked to some degree.

For all City’s neat triangles and movement off the ball they did not really threaten and the closest they came was when they were gifted an opportunity by Jose Enrique’s backpass.

The Spaniard was obviously unsighted when he rolled a ball too close to Sergio Aguero but Jose Reina raced 15 yards out of his penalty area to first block and then clear the rebound.

Aguero was doing his best to unlock the Liverpool defence and he twisted past Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger with ease on the left of the area before losing balance.

Ironically, considering the silky attacking skills at their disposal, the visitors took a 31st-minute lead from an old-fashioned corner routine.

Silva swung in a left-footed cross and centre-back Kompany headed into the far corner.

That is usually the key for Mancini’s side to go into attacking overdrive but within two minutes Liverpool equalised.

Kompany’s weak clearance dropped to Kuyt who squared for Adam to hit a left-footed shot. It was going wide until Lescott decided to try to clear and diverted it past Hart instead.

He was helpless to stop that shot but the England goalkeeper showed his quality as he stuck out a leg to brilliantly divert Adam’s right-footed shot over.Suddenly the momentum was with the Reds and Johnson flashed a left-footed shot past Hart’s right-hand post.

Reina then saved low from Aguero in first-half added time but the open football continued after the break with Kuyt’s diving header just missing.

The languid, measured play of the first half had been replaced by a more frenetic approach after the break, evidenced by Hart hurriedly punching Downing’s cross.

Hart then did better with his England team-mate’s shot, tipping over just as the ball was about to dip under the crossbar.

The increasingly manic atmosphere hardly needed enhancing but the arrival of Balotelli for Nasri did exactly that.

Right on cue the Italian produced a comedic stumble, a fraction of a second after Skrtel had slipped while trying to reach the ball and just when he was about to burst into the penalty area.

Liverpool had steadily grown more comfortable over the course of the game and Enrique and Downing both shot wide before Balotelli’s talent for getting into trouble surfaced again.

Having been booked for pulling back Johnson, he was shown a second yellow for catching Skrtel across the face.

Hart then made another good save at his near post from Luis Suarez before Skrtel cleared off the line from Silva. But, in the end, it was Hart who preserved City’s unbeaten start with a brilliant one-handed save from Andy Carroll’s header.