Liverpool show no signs of climbing back up.They used to say on Merseyside that you could afford to lose just four matches if you were to take the title and, well as Liverpool performed in a wonderfully intense contest, this was defeat number five.As the November darkness gathered over Anfield, their manager, G?rd Houllier, confessed that they were now playing for the fourth and final Champions' League slot Even that might take some getting. "Above us only sky" read one banner draped from the Anfield Road End, although above Liverpool this morning are Fulham, Manchester City, Birmingham and Charlton, not to mention the big three, who from the banks of the Mersey look as distant and untouchable as Saturn.Houllier, who took sole charge of Liverpool five years ago this week, looked genuinely pained. When asked his greatest achievement as manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson replied that "it was knocking Liverpool off their perch". At Anfield, they would have digested the news that Ferguson plans another four years at Old Trafford ­ on a deal worth £4m a year ­ slowly and grimly. Substitutes not used: Coyne (gk), Elliott, Gillespie.Bookings: Manchester City: Distin, Bosvelt; Leicester: Izzet, McKinlay.Referee: M Riley (Leeds) 7.Man of the match: Izzet.Attendance: 46,966.. Substitutes not used: Weaver (gk), Macken, Sommeil.Leicester City (4-4-2): Walker 5; Impey 6, Howey 6, Scimeca 6, Thatcher 5; Scowcroft 6, Izzet 7, McKinlay 5, Stewart 5; Dickov 6 (Hignett 5, 85), Bent 5 (Ferdinand 5, 79). "All the ability in the world doesn't mean much if you don't put any thought or passion into your play."Goals: Stewart (12) 0-1, Dickov pen (53) 0-2, Bent (58) 0-3.Manchester City (4-4-2): Stuhr-Ellegaard 4; Sun Jihai 5, Dunne 4, Distin 4, Tarnat 5; McManaman 5, Barton 6 (Bosvelt 5, 60), Berkovic 6, Sibierski 4; Wanchope 4 (Fowler 5, 60), Anelka 4. Then, before a recovery could be launched, Bent thumped in a header from Izzet's cross.It was finishing of a quality Keegan's men lamentably failed to match "We hardly brought a save from Ian Walker," said Keegan.

Whatever the extent of contact between open hand and face, it was a foolish challenge in the extreme.Punishment came firstly with a yellow card, and secondly from the spot via Dickov's sixth goal of the season. The Danish under-21 international, signed by Keegan two years ago, was given his chance because David Seaman failed a late fitness test on a hamstring injury and Nicky Weaver has had knee problems.The debutant deserved much more than he got from his team-mates. Not just for Leicester, but also their surprise victims, who, in the previous league game at the City of Manchester Stadium, put six past Bolton.Yesterday, City - Kevin Keegan's version, that is, not the Adams model - were atrocious.Unsettled by a wondrous early strike from Jordan Stewart, they self-destructed when their captain, Sylvain Distin, presented Paul Dickov with a penalty that the former Maine Road hero drove in and were killed off when Marcus Bent added a third after 58 minutes.It all added up to a nightmare start for City's third-choice keeper, Kevin Stuhr-Ellegaard. Finally Leicester City found a three-goal lead on their Premiership travels more than enough. "But I know that doing well in these one-dayers will not automatically get me into the Test squad. I will just carry on going about my business as I have done and if an opportunity arises I will try to take it."Today's second one-day international in Dhaka, in which England are likely to name the same eleven that thrashed Bangladesh by seven wickets on Friday, offers this popular cricketer the ideal chance to begin proving what fine judges the selectors are..

He did a fantastic job and I now have 95 per cent of my movement back."The return of Thorpe to the England Test side at the end of the summer - after Anthony McGrath and Ed Smith had failed to grasp their opportunities - appears to have knocked back Collingwood's immediate chances of breaking into this team."The selectors now know what I can do," Collingwood said. I knew it was a bad one as soon as I fell, because my left arm was behind me when my shoulder hit the the ground."The operation took three hours, because there were three major things that the surgeon had to correct. The man England hope to turn into the next Graham Thorpe by the 2007 World Cup scored his first century during the winter and averages 33.7 with the bat.Last summer's Test series against Zimbabwe looked set to be the moment when Collingwood was to be introduced to Test cricket, but a mistimed dive while fielding in a pre-season friendly against Lancashire shattered these hopes."I was devastated to miss the whole of last season," he said, "because I was hoping to get some runs under my belt and push for a Test spot. "I was a little bit surprised to be offered a central contract, because I had missed four months' cricket, but it gave me a lot of confidence."It shows they have a lot of belief in me. It is now up to me to go out and work hard at my game and prove that I am worthy of one."It is well known that Duncan Fletcher is a big fan of this hard-working and tenacious cricketer, but the England coach has taken something of a risk in pushing through the selection of a player who still has a huge amount to prove.Collingwood has performed reasonably well in the 39 one-day internationals he has played in. Although the Durham batsman looked impressive during England's one-day cricket last winter, he had yet to play Test cricket. The 27-year-old had also spent most of the summer watching from the sidelines after seriously injuring his left shoulder in April.That Collingwood was offered a contract ahead of his Durham team-mate Stephen Harmison, when he had played no cricket of any note during the summer of 2003, shows just how highly he is rated by the selectors."It has been a long time since my last game for England in March and it was a relief to get back out in the middle," Collingwood said.