Manchester City 0 Liverpool 0:  Rafael Benitez is surely already sick of saying it. Liverpool, he repeats, will not be distracted by the sight of the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea on the horizon. Premiership points are still needed and, until they are earned, there will be no easing off in domestic duties.

But it is difficult to reconcile a pedestrian performance such as this with those sentiments. Benitez pointed to a bright opening, Manchester City's upsurge in form, and a couple of decent chances to support his case, but the Reds were undeniably flat. The Liverpool manager, though, was sticking to his script. "If we started the game by doing the same things we were doing in the last minutes maybe you could say the players were thinking about the Champions League semi-final," he said. "But we started the game very well. We moved the ball and we had chances."

Whether minds are wandering or not, excitement is rarely on the cards when deep-lying midfielders outnumber strikers by three to two. Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso, Liverpool's quarterback-roadblocks, were predictably controlling but rarely utilised their possession creatively and Jose Mourinho's interest will have been roused by the effectiveness of Sun Jihai's deployment in front of the City back four.

The Chinese midfielder is a tidy performer but hardly Claude Makelele. That he could be so disruptive to Liverpool's creative flow will give Benitez cause for concern. With Sun acting as defensive cholesterol to Liverpool's heartbeat - Steven Gerrard, playing as the central spur in the Reds' five-man midfield - the visitors rarely raised the pulse.

Benitez, though, was unconcerned with his side's struggle for penetration. Goals away from Anfield have been a problem all season, but compared to City's home record the Reds have been prolific. Stuart Pearce's side have now gone 558 minutes since scoring at Eastlands in the Premiership, but Steve Wigley, Pearce's assistant, expressed satisfaction at the scoreline and the fact that City fans could leave the ground with a hint of frustration is testament to the side's recent improvement, something Liverpool will be striving for a week on Wednesday.

Stuart Pearce could not get away from Eastlands quick enough, and by the end Rafael Benitez must have felt he would rather be somewhere else.

City's biggest crowd of the season was streaming away in the sunshine bemoaning the shocking lack of entertainment.

By which time City boss Pearce was probably already on the plane taking him on a spying mission - hopefully, for City fans, with a new striker on his shopping list.

Benitez wanted at least two wins this week from three league games to allow total concentration on Chelsea with third-place in the Premiership all wrapped up. He tried hard to defend his team, claiming rightly they had dominated much of the early play and should have been out of sight with the points.

But he was as angry as many observers have seen in three years, and issued a thinly-veiled threat that players still have to prove their worth to play against Chelsea.

Benitez said: "They must know that every game is important for them. If you want to play in a semi-final you need the confidence of the manager and to show people, as well as me, that you are ready.

"We know what they can do as players, but it is important that they show they are in good form at the right moment."

Arsenal helped the cause by beating fifth-placed Bolton and ensuring Champions League qualification is almost certain for themselves and Liverpool.

"I'm sure we will perform better than today," said Benitez. They will need to.

Guardian Service