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Football News: Liverpool v Manchester City - A Liverpool Perspective

Liverpool v Manchester City - A Liverpool Perspective
Image from: egberthennen.com

Liverpool v Manchester City

 

Right, first off, need to deal with the morons that attacked the City bus. That was idiotic and embarrassing and they should be ashamed of themselves. Pricks! The club does not need these idiots ruining what was a great night and stirring up unnecessary bad feeling which could lead to future problems. The game was sensational and a few selfish dicks have taken the shine off it. They did not help anything, quite the opposite. I hate that I even have to talk about these utter pricks.

As for the game, the performance was excellent in the first half, City, as I have maintained all season long, are very beatable if a team gets at them. They just do not like being hassled and hurried. Pep did not help matters with his tactical changes which left them completely unbalanced and had no one down the right at all in the first half, because Walker was struggling to get forward. They were knocked out of rhythm, most importantly of all, they were turning the ball over a lot in challenges which left them unable to quickly foul to stop Liverpool getting at their dodgy backline. Their system is built around quick fouls to break up play when they lose it and to stop opponents building meaningful possession.

Usually they are facing opponents who drop off and let them get into the attacking third before they try to win the ball, which enables them to foul in areas that are not dangerous to themselves. Liverpool chased them deep in their own half, where they could not give away the fouls to stop the attack before it can be started. They simply could not handle it as they know no other way to defend and the pressure got to them. It also showed up Ederson's weaknesses as a keeper. He, like Fernandinho and a couple of others, are unable to pass under pressure, they panic and hit wild passes to no one or into the stands.

The second half was totally different, especially after Salah went off. The team sunk deeper and deeper with no out ball to a player capable of holding up the way Salah does. It became a real struggle and showed a different side to the team, that they can actually defend when needed. Impressive in a different way, though I would have liked the team to get hold of the ball more and pass it about to draw the sting out of City.

 

Klopp - got his tactics spot on in the first half. He knows exactly how to play against Pep to give the team the greatest chance of a result. Second half losing Salah was a big blow and he made the change to bring Solanke on to try and get someone who could hold the ball up in the front line. It was good to see him making the change earlier than usual and it looked to me like a good time to make it as Firmino just looked to be blowing a bit.

 

Karius - assured, quick off his line and dealt very well with the little threat City posed.

 

Alexander-Arnold - excellent game. Had Sane locked away tight all game, despite City's insistence in focusing almost everything down that flank believing him to be a weak link. Never let anyone down and was one of the best players on the pitch.

 

Lovren - played really well. Lovren is always much more fired up than Matip and makes a genuine effort, even when he is having a bad day. That always seems to bring more out of van Dijk as well.

 

van Dijk - it was like a different player to the van Dijk who had faced Palace. When he is up for it, van Dijk is excellent, the problem is making sure he is at it. Last night he was at it and dealt with Jesus really well.

 

Robertson - these games really suit him, he can use his energy to chase around and put pressure on City and force mistakes. He did come under a bit more pressure in the second half with $terling to face, after a surprisingly easy first half, but City continued to try and force the play down the other side of the field. Did get lucky the one time that City really got at him, when a penalty could easily have been given against him for handball. That was the closest City got to creating a clear cut chance.

 

Henderson - really good game, breaking up play and keeping the team awake. A couple of sloppy passes but mainly he was a big part of Liverpool's first half domination of the midfield. Could be a big miss not having his influence in the team for the second leg.

 

Milner - another good game from Milner. A couple of loose passes aside he was generally excellent. Not just breaking up play really well, he also got forward and provided an assist. Who would have thought Milner would have the most assists in the Champions League at this stage?

 

Oxlade-Chamberlain - excellent first half, smacking a beautiful goal for the second. Less effective in the second half when he was asked to play further forward after Salah went off. Worked his socks off though.

 

Salah - I felt sorry for Laporte, he did not have a clue how to handle Salah and gave him far too much space. One thing I did notice he did that was not highlighted was racing back when Sane broke to get back and stop Sane from having an option to play the ball left, forcing the German to shoot from distance. He sprinted over half the length of the pitch just to cover as most players were caught up field. That summed up the overall performance, it was a team performance with everybody putting it in to cover for each other.

 

Mane - kept Walker busy and unable to really get forward throughout most of the game. Worked hard, caused the defence to have to hurry things and scored a goal. You really cannot ask for much more.

 

Firmino - he was once again the key figure to the press, winning the ball all over the pitch, especially to poke it to Salah for his goal. Was beginning to look a little leggy when he came off though. When he has Salah and Mane alongside him, there is almost an inevitability that chances will come because of his pressure on the defence.

 

Subs:

Wijnaldum - replaced Salah who was taken off injured in the 52nd minute. Worked hard in midfield to break up play and ensure City never got any really good chances.

Solanke - after replacing Firmino in the 71st minute, he never really got any service to enable him to hold up the ball, in fact he mostly dropped deep to help out the midfield. He did break forward once and produced a good ball across but no one was able to get on the end of it.

Moreno - brought on in the 85th minute as Klopp looked to shore things up for the final few minutes. Never really got much of a look in, as Liverpool were just defending and seeing out the game at that point.

Written by Tris Burke April 05 2018 14:31:35