Manchester City v Liverpool - A Quick Liverpool Perspective

Manchester City v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective



A shambolic performance by Liverpool, with Slot reverting to the terrible style of play that had been failing miserably this season, despite having had two wins in a row playing a different way. It does beg the question, why change a winning formula? If the players are struggling for fitness, that is what substitutions are for. What is worse is the refusal to budge from just slowly rolling it around the backline, even at 3-0 down. What are they seeing on the bench that made them continue to play it for 90 minutes?

There is little that can be said for Liverpool, it was an abysmal showing, Slot got it all wrong and it is now on him to fix it before the next game. The constant return to this slow, boring way of playing does suggest that the issue is Slot himself and that he has not understood the Premier League, even after a year in charge. The issues at Liverpool are not just the same as last season, they have been amplified by the recruitment and tactics, rather than rectified.

I do not understand how anyone watching the Reds last season could not have spotted that the midfield needed more bite as a priority, nor that Konate was a weak link and an accident waiting to happen every single game. Somehow, no one at the club spotted either issue and so did nothing about rectifying those two big problems. Even more bizarre when it was so obvious that the midfield trio was running on empty at times last season. It was understandable signing the two strikers, who were desperately needed as the three players who played up front last season were no longer available, but when you are spending that amount of money, you surely have to deal with the obvious weaknesses next?

That aside, there is no excuses for the mess we are seeing on the pitch right now, with a team that is definitely underperforming. The quality of the players is much better than the results being achieved and that is down to the tactics, which are failing miserably and do not even have the mollifying effect of being enjoyable to watch. Everything about it is terrible and needs to be addressed. Why buy a pair of attacking wing-backs and then put shackles on them? Why buy the best young attacking midfielder in Europe last season and then push the rest of the midfield in front of him so there is no space for him to operate?

Nothing that we are seeing this season made sense until the Aston Villa and Real Madrid games, so why on earth would you then revert back to the stupidity of the rest of the season? There is so little to even enjoy about watching Liverpool right now and that makes it difficult to back Slot, even though he won the Premier League at a canter last season.

That is probably why LFC are making such a fuss about the Virgil goal being chalked off. Well that and it smacks of refereeing bias when that same referee decided an almost exact same goal scored for Man City against Wolverhampton Wanderers last season was not offside. I think that no one would really be talking about it if that had not happened. It certainly does not help that the referee lives in Greater Manchester, so should not be officiating games involving the Manchester sides anyway. I do not understand this insistence by PGMOL of appointing Manchester-based officials to games involving Manchester sides, it is arrogance on their part to think that is acceptable. It does not matter whether the officials are biased or not, they are immediately under mental pressure that is not needed simply by being chosen for those matches. It is not like we have any competent officials to begin with, so why put them under unnecessary pressure as well?



Manchester City


It is very difficult to know what to say about Man City's performance, they had it so easy that they had very little to worry about, they did not even need to play particularly well. The one thing that did stand out as having understood how to stop Liverpool when they play this way, apart from just turn up as that seems to work fine for everyone else, was to use Haaland to man-mark van Dijk when Liverpool had the ball and wanted to slowly roll it back and forth between him and Konate. That blocked that off and left the ball at Konate's feet, where the big Frenchman moronically just gave it back to them. It certainly made their day even easier.

The fact they won so easily is even more worrying, from a Reds perspective, when you consider just how badly Cherki played. If Konate had not been so catastrophically bad (again), a lot more notice would have been taken about just how dire Cherki was. But it matters little when your team strolls to victory. Also, it helps when Doku is such a shining light that no one really notices anything else. Doku, like Haaland, has come on in leaps and bounds for this season. You can not fail to be impressed by the massive gains he has made, from a player who had the pace and skill to beat anyone but would then just launch the ball aimlessly (usually into row Z) to a player that still has the good bits but has added end product. He has turned into a quite simply brilliant left winger.



Liverpool


Mamadarshvili - an improved performance from the Georgian, even his kicking looked a lot better and he continued with his extremely impressive penalty save record. However, he still does not fill me with confidence, it was more likely that Citeh do not play a type of game that puts his weaknesses under pressure, hence the improvement.


Bradley - was absolutely tortured by Doku, particularly early on. There were signs in the second half that he was beginning to get to grips with the winger, but the game was over by then. You just have to question why he was given no help at all by Salah, who has the experience and intelligence to see that the lad needed help. What was pleasing was Bradley's attitude, he just kept going and did not react to the lack of genuine help from his teammates by throwing a strop. Despite the problems caused by Doku, he was probably Liverpool's best player overall.


Konate - he has stunk the place out all season, yet this still managed to plumb new depths for him in just how badly he played. How bad does he have to play before he gets dropped? It is getting embarrassing to watch now and it is clear that teams are targeting him because he is such a weak link. I lost count of the number of times he just aimlessly lumped out into touch in a panic, despite being under no real pressure on the ball. His lack of intelligence is seriously disturbing. City stood off him and just let him have the ball, so why just pump it into the stands? Carry it forward until they do engage, which will open up someone to receive the ball.


van Dijk - showed his limitations as a captain with his inability to make on pitch changes to improve what is happening. In particular, why just allow Haaland to mark you out of the game? Surely the answer is to stop giving it to Konate and then standing there being neither use nor ornament and instead pass it forward himself when he got it. Or perhaps try moving to drag Haaland around. What he did was just stand there and allow himself to be put out of the match. I expect better of a player with his experience.


Robertson - looked a game too far for Robertson and he seemed leggy.


Mac Allister - failed to make an impact on the game, other than picking up a booking.


Gravenberch - should have done more to help Bradley and got closer to him. Had a poor game overall.


Szoboszlai - he was the only outfield player in a red shirt other than Bradley that had any real positive effect on the game.


Salah - awful game, was poor offensively and non-existent defensively. He can be excused not working back when he is racking up goals and assists, but this season he needs to start tracking back and putting in the work for the team first and foremost.


Wirtz - his teammates are simply not picking him out when he is in better positions than they are. When he did get the ball it was in positions with no option to pass to, with no one showing for him and he was usually quickly surrounded by three or four players. It is clear Guardiola did not want to let him have a moment to produce anything.


Ekitike - poor game, even his work rate was terrible. Failed to close down for one of the goals as well, which is unforgivable as he had plenty of time to do so but made no effort.


Kerkez - replaced Robertson in the 56th minute. Did Slot even watch him play last season? It is incredible how badly he has been used. Not once has he been asked to play to his strengths.


Gakpo - came in for Ekitike in the 56th minute. An incredibly stupid substitution, to take off the main striker and go with no striker when you are already getting battered. I am not sure what the thinking was behind it but it failed miserably.


Jones - took the place of Mac Allister in the 74th minute. Made the midfield a little more secure defensively.


Chiesa - was brought on for Wirtz in the 83rd minute. At least he showed desire and willingness but he got no service.


Gomez - was subbed on for Bradley in the 83rd minute. Just a pointless substitution, basically Slot had thrown in the towel long before and was just worrying about keeping players from getting injured.

Written by Tris Burke November 12 2025 05:41:58