16 Conclusions From Liverpool 2 City 2

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* The first thing to say is that Liverpool thoroughly deserved to qualify for the final - indeed, they thoroughly deserved to win this game. For a while in the second half, it looked like the old problems were going to take Liverpool's knees out - with the score at 2-1 to City, the hosts had taken 12 shots to City's four, a familiar tale of profligacy at Anfield costing Liverpool dear. However, they solved this when they needed - the start of an improvement for the rest of the season perhaps?

* Sometimes there are tactical reasons for switching to three at the back, but they weren't immediately clear for Manchester City in this game. Liverpool were always going to play a variant of a 4-5-1, so by starting in a 3-4-2-1 formation Roberto Mancini actually exposed his central midfielders, gave Liverpool's wingers space to run into, left three defenders marking one forward and, by pushing Micah Richards infield, dispensed with his forward runs, usually a valuable attacking option. The only justification was to protect the hitherto hapless Stefan Savic which a) doesn't display a great deal of faith in his player and b) didn't work anyway. Normal service resumed after Sergio Aguero replaced the floundering Montenegrin, and a more familiar system was adopted.

* And on the midfield point, it was the control of the midfield that was arguably the key to this game. Liverpool only had 38% of possession, but it was preventing City playing incisive football that arguably won the game. On any number of occasions, David Silva, Samir Nasri and latterly Adam Johnson were simply not afforded enough room in the areas that they do the most damage. Silva's neat, defence-splitting passes, of the sort that set up Nasri's goal against Spurs at the weekend, didn't make it through the massed ranks and City's main creative outlets were suffocated. It was partly a consequence of Mancini's naivety/initial tactical error, but it continued in the second half when he reverted to a more familiar system, so one must give plenty of credit to Kenny Dalglish for exploiting a weakness.

* The interesting thing about Kenny Dalglish's return to Anfield is that many - us included - thought it was purely an emotional appointment, and that a man who hadn't managed in a decade would struggle to adapt to a game that had moved on. However, one of Dalglish's strengths is that he tries things. He experiments tactically, and there's usually plenty of method to it. It sometimes doesn't work, but it often - particularly in big games, it seems - does.

* In my notes (yep, I do make notes - just like a real journalist and everything) I've just got 'Bellamy - dervish' written down. And bloody hell he was. For a 32-year-old with ropey knees he was exceptional, running around like a man possessed, and not aimlessly either. The interesting thing is that Bellamy has played for much of the past four or five years as a winger, but tonight he returned to the place where he made his name, in the middle, and he was a wonderful combination of a terrific pain in the arse, a nippy poacher and a tricksy number ten. When Stefan Savic closes his eyes tonight, he'll see Bellamy bearing down on him.

* Said Kenny Dalglish after the game, about Bellamy: "If Man City have anyone else like that they don't want to keep..." Touché Kenneth, touché.

* Ah, a contentious penalty decision. You'll have as many people telling you it was a definite penalty as those who'll tell you it wasn't. As usual, it wasn't quite as clear-cut as that. By the letter of the law - or to be more precise the letter of the referee's guidelines - Phil Dowd was quite correct because Micah Richards' arms were in an 'unnatural position', in that they were raised above his shoulders. However, Richards was diving along the floor to try and block the shot, meaning he had to splay his arms to balance - therefore, would that not make it a perfectly natural position? And then one must consider the distance between shot and hand. That the ball flicked off the City man's foot before it struck his arm is neither here nor there (there's no relevant difference between the two milliseconds it took for the shot to reach him, and the one millisecond it took for ball to flick from foot to arm), but should Dowd not have taken into consideration that Dan Agger was only a few yards away when he struck it? On balance, I would say not a penalty, but it was a close one.

* As for Edin Dzeko's appeal for a spot-kick, this was a good example of why we should only judge referees on what they could reasonably see, rather than what we see 15 times in a slow-motion replay. When slowed-down and zoomed-in upon, it's reasonably clear that Dzeko's leg was booted out of the way, but Dowd was standing directly behind the incident, and to him it may have looked like Charlie Adam took the ball cleanly. A slight error, but a completely understandable one.

* Joe Hart is by some distance England's most important player, but in many ways he's an odd keeper. There can only be a few better shot-stoppers in the world, as evidenced by the terrific saves from Martin Skrtel and Stewart Downing in the second half, but after the second of those stops, he flapped at a corner, reminding you that he's no Lev Yashin. Hart fluctuates between giving one a sense of security and calm when the opposition is ahead of him, and nerves when they're to the side. A modern-day goalkeeping affliction perhaps?

* Liverpool's defence has been their main strength this season, but Manchester City's second goal was absolutely avoidable. Sure, Alex Kolarov's cross was whipped beautifully in front of their defensive line, but three defenders could've cut it out before it reached Dzeko at the far post. As it turns out it didn't really matter, but it wasn't great defending.

* It's a wonder Liverpool's defence has been so good when it's contained Glen Johnson for most of the season. As ever, he proved dangerous going forwards, as evidenced by his role in the 'winner', but he was also dragged out of position on a number of occasions, and was lucky this wasn't exploited. Martin Kelly, who came on in the closing stages, is arguably a better option for both Liverpool and England.

* Steven Gerrard's current role is interesting, and has implications for Fabio Capello. Since returning to fitness, Gerrard has fitted into a deeper midfield position, with Jordan Henderson usually the more advanced man. Whether this is down to Gerrard no longer having the legs to 'bomb on', or Henderson being viewed as a better option, or simply out of necessity because of Lucas's injury is unclear, but a key option for Capello's England side is to play a 4-2-3-1 system with Wayne Rooney as the lone striker, and Gerrard behind him. Indeed, this is the system we believe Capello would play in an ideal world, especially against the strongest sides. However, can he do this if Gerrard is playing so deep for his club?

* Why does Stewart Downing absolutely hammer every cross or shot he takes? If he just took a little bit off everything, he might have a bit more success. Simple enough, one might think.

* What's eating Roberto Mancini? When Nigel de Jong slipped into his 25-yard strike and it flew into the top corner, the rest of the City bench danced around the touchline like loons, while Mancini looked like a man who had just received a particularly big gas bill. He looked actively irritated, oddly, and it was the same at the weekend when City scored against Spurs. What happened to the joyous celebrations after the winner against Villarreal in the Champions League? Cheer up Roberto - you're top of the league and you've got more money than Warren Buffet, Scrooge McDuck and God behind you.

* As it turns out it wasn't relevant in this game, but the use of the away goals rule in the Carling Cup must surely be revisited. As you'll know they only become a factor after extra-time, so it basically gives whoever plays away second has a potential extra half-an-hour to get one. Hugely unfair.

* Call me immature, but one of the simplest pleasures in the game is the pitch-side effects microphone picking up the words of a screaming manager, and the telly people try to turn it down before an audible swear appears, but fail. Lovely stuff.

Nick Miller - draw your own conclusions from his Twitter feed