Topic: Liverpool Vs Manchester City - Pre Match Thread.

[sms1986]

A draw tomorrow would be as bad as a defeat. That's like handing Chelsea the title.

Of course, don't you know they've already won it? We can't overturn six points now! Who ever heard of that happening over the course of five months?

[Realdidi]

Pretty confident but can't under estimate them, however if we score early and dominate I don't think they'll be able to live with us and their heads will drop or they'll lose their heads like they did against Chelsea!

[na fir dearg]

Expecting lots of goals, tough one to call but home advantage should see us through


[You may have an iPhone but you are still using the free version of Tapatalk and spamming us with that knowledge]

[Bob Sacamano]

We can outplay them, but they have so much individual attacking quality it might not matter. Aguero, KDB, and Silva are genuine match-winners. The defence will have to be sharp and alert. 

[Crosby Nick]

We played West Brom on New Years Eve in 2005 I think, won 1-0 with a Crouch header.

Same again please, Firmino in the Crouch role I reckon, he likes City.

[Filler.]

Not sure where my head is for this game yet. Just going to try and enjoy it. I certainly won't be packing my bags if we drop points tho, as I doubt would City. After tomorrow's game we've reached the halfway mark, so there'll be many more stories written.


After we entertain City, the top 6 will all have 5 more head to heads. Ourselves, City, Arsenal and Spurs will have 3 of them at home. Looking at this little chart I've just drawn up on a piece of paper, I'm trying to work out if that has any relevance whatsoever. I'm struggling to find anything even interesting. Man Utd and Arsenal only have a couple between now and the end of March, whereas we have all 6 (incl City) between now and the end of March, with the rest all having 3. April- End of season, we have none, whereas the rest have 2 or 3. That's the best I could do.


I got sidetracked. Wanted to really say how good it is to have a manager that isn't bringing the sniping and the sneering towards other managers and teams that others bring. Very refreshing and energising. He's not afraid to make a remark or two of course, but the bitterness that others have just isn't there.

Time will tell of course. Ha.


Pivotal game tho. 2016 can do one as a year, but I'd like a win to see it out I have to say. Don't buy this 'statement' stuff if we win tho. Klopp seems to have really instilled into the team a counter-argument to making statements, which, let's face it, is for the newspapers really. It's one game at a time stuff from all concerned, with only a fleeting glance at a table. I really think he's hammered that home. Obviously the team will be aware of what's going on, but I genuinely think he's succeeding on getting them to push all the superfluous stuff aside, and to focus on the game we're playing.


We always ask ourselves what we'd take before kick off... and this is one of those that, if offered a point... I'd refuse it. I'd like to play this one out please.

[Fiasco]

I think it's good that we had the match wrapped up pretty early against Stoke. We were able to reserve energy towards the end and in a big match like this it could be the difference. City are a really good team with some wonderful players, but they are most definitely fallible and we should be able to exploit their weaknesses. I'd be surprised if we kept a clean sheet but I think we should have enough firepower to beat them.

I'll go for a 3-1 win, but I'd take any victory.

[Lasardine]

Probably the first time since they were bought by the Sheikh that I don't feel like we're inferior to them. They may have a larger group of individual talent but our first XI is better collectively. That's how you bridge the gap in quality I suppose.

We've got absolutely nothing to fear. Pep will obviously have a lot of tactical surprises, I can envisage a lot of man-marking in the middle of the park - good news is that we'll be playing a team that will finally allow us to press them.

It's a massive chance for us to send a message to the rest of the league. If we win I think I'm gonna freak out real bad.

Not necessarily. Pep's Bayern went direct vs Klopp's Dortmund.

Also he'll have learnt from the Spurs game where they kept trying to play from the back against a full press which got them into trouble time and time again. And the Leicester game where they left far too much space in behind.

If we had these earlier in the season we could've torn them apart, especially with Coutinho. It's our luck that Aguero and Ferna are back to face us isn't it. Probably their two best players.

[Filler.]

Not necessarily. Pep's Bayern went direct vs Klopp's Dortmund.

On one occassion I know he did and Bayern won 3-0. They had Lewandowski tho didn't they? I could be wrong, but yes, he did go long at least once. Can't imagine them doing the same with Aguero up front mind, but you never know. I'd be surprised if they do.

It's our luck that Aguero and Ferna are back to face us isn't it. Probably their two best players.

It's not all bad yer know. Cheer up mate. We had Roy Hodgson as manager once.

[Lasardine]

On one occassion I know he did and Bayern won 3-0. They had Lewandowski tho didn't they? I could be wrong, but yes, he did go long at least once. Can't imagine them doing the same with Aguero up front mind, but you never know. I'd be surprised if they do.

He'll have something up his sleeve (Pep's trademark), it's just whether we are proactive or reactive. Need to stop them from doing whatever it is they want to do. I think he beat Dortmund 5-1 last season as well by playing long balls to the forwards who made certain runs.

[jdegner]

Managed to get ticket literally 20 minutes before they finally shut the sale down what a cracking New Year's this might be! Predicting a high scoring game this time, 2-1 just sounds too boring. 4-2

[Joe Allens chicken]

A draw tomorrow would be as bad as a defeat. That's like handing Chelsea the title.

Get a grip ffs! Chelsea will drop points between now and May and this is the most unpredictable season in years so we'll always have a chance. At the start of the season people were happy with a top 4 challenge and now it's a disaster if we draw with City half way through the season 

[Lasardine]

Get a grip ffs! Chelsea will drop points between now and May and this is the most unpredictable season in years so we'll always have a chance. At the start of the season people were happy with a top 4 challenge and now it's a disaster if we draw with City half way through the season 

We've done better than expected, our targets have changed as a result. We shouldn't aim for top 4 now when we've made a start of title challengers. Unfortunately for us Chelsea have put together one of the best starts in PL history so we need to win to stay in the race.

[killer-heels]

We've done better than expected, our targets have changed as a result. We shouldn't aim for top 4 now when we've made a start of title challengers. Unfortunately for us Chelsea have put together one of the best starts in PL history so we need to win to stay in the race.

We dont have to win we just have to make sure that whatever happens that we dont lose. Making virtually every game a must win in December against a top City side is a ridiculous expectation.

We can win and we will win tomorrow but there is absolutely no way we can be saying that its a must win. You are then basically expecting the side to win every game from now to the end of the season whih wont happen.

[Filler.]

it's just whether we are proactive or reactive. Need to stop them from doing whatever it is they want to do. 

So reactive then? We ditch our game to theirs? I don't think that'll happen. I don't know if we're that good at stopping teams... I think we're better at going out there and enjoying it. It suits the personality far better. Can't imagine Klopp asking his players to be so tight as to suffocate and nick one. We'll be going out there and giving it a good fucking game. Let them decide what to do. I reckon they'll do the same.

So 0-0 then.

[killer-heels]

He'll have something up his sleeve (Pep's trademark), it's just whether we are proactive or reactive. Need to stop them from doing whatever it is they want to do. I think he beat Dortmund 5-1 last season as well by playing long balls to the forwards who made certain runs.

Oh yeah Pep is infallible. The guy always learns doesnt he? I mean after Spurs he definitely learnt not to take risks at the back.

Except for the fact that they made more errors at the back since that game and their form has been patchy to pretty average after Spurs outplayed them.

But yeh Pep, what a guy.

[CheadleBlue]

City fan here ... just to pre-warn you, I lived in Cheadle Hulme and have been light blue since 8.  So no bandwagon hopper here

Expecting a great game tomorrow - as it normally is between our two sides.  As you know, our record at Anfield is worse than awful (funnily enough, we have a rather good record at the Trafford Swamp over the past 6-7 years!)  So you guys definitely start as favourites.   But I don't think we'll roll over as we did in the league last year - expect us to perform more akin to the League Cup Final.

I don't agree with those here who say a draw hands Chelsea the title -- you may recall us overhauling a certain other team in 2012 when 8pts behind with 6 games left.   So everything to play for. 

[Thoros Of Myr]

Oh yeah Pep is infallible. The guy always learns doesnt he? I mean after Spurs he definitely learnt not to take risks at the back.

Except for the fact that they made more errors at the back since that game and their form has been patchy to pretty average after Spurs outplayed them.

But yeh Pep, what a guy.

Yeah he's fucking shit.

[Lasardine]

We dont have to win we just have to make sure that whatever happens that we dont lose. Making virtually every game a must win in December against a top City side is a ridiculous expectation.

We can win and we will win tomorrow but there is absolutely no way we can be saying that its a must win. You are then basically expecting the side to win every game from now to the end of the season whih wont happen.

I'm not expecting us to win every game but the way Chelsea are going it's looking like we might have to. People say Chelsea will drop points but we're already 6 points behind - we need to make up those points, and Chelsea to lose the points. Which essentially means we have to win every game in the hope Chelsea will drop them at some stage. We can't lose then hope Chelsea slip up as we won't make up any ground.

[Number 7]

Can't wait for the game. Of course one game won't decide the title even if Chelsea do win tomorrow.

We've been the better team in every single match this season. There is obviously something about us and I don't expect City to turn up and outplay us. I think we stack up pretty well against them actually. If we play our standard high energy/high tempo game I don't think they'll be able to live with us. I am expecting us to score and if the defence is solid we have a great chance of winning. Aguero is obviously a threat but the lack of match sharpness will probably play a part for him.

It's probably a good thing we haven't had too long to dwell on the game as it's so soon after Stoke. The United home game took an eternity to come around after the international break and I don't think it helped the players thinking so long about it, and as a result it was a very tense, dark and cagey affair. I expect this game to be very different as we're back in form after the Bournemouth and West Ham slip ups. Anfield should be rocking tomorrow and the crowd will play a big part. We're at home and I'm sure we're going to just go for it from minute one. Pep is aware that we will press with high intensity and I can see him sitting back and putting the onus on us to try and break them down.

No Matip shouldn't be a problem because Klavan has been in good form. I thought it may have been a problem against Stoke's tall strikers but once we enforced our game it became a non issue. Same thing needs to happen here. Just play our normal game and make Aguero a non factor.

[Lasardine]

Oh yeah Pep is infallible. The guy always learns doesnt he? I mean after Spurs he definitely learnt not to take risks at the back.

Except for the fact that they made more errors at the back since that game and their form has been patchy to pretty average after Spurs outplayed them.

But yeh Pep, what a guy.

City have been the only side to look capable of beating Chelsea, and actually they should have won but missed golden chances. Teams tend to be clinical against us so we won't be afforded the same luck.

Where did I once say Pep was infallible, he's just known for trying certain tactics, especially in the big games. He's a tinkerer. I'm not saying it WILL work but he'll try it, whatever it may be. Hopefully Klopp knows his plan already (proactive) rather than ending up having to find a solution in game (reactive).

I've thought we'd win all week and I stand by it, I just think he may spring a surprise which we need to be wary of.

[Thoros Of Myr]

City have been the only side to look capable of beating Chelsea, and actually they should have won but missed golden chances. Teams tend to be clinical against us so we won't be afforded the same luck.

Where did I once say Pep was infallible, he's just known for trying certain tactics, especially in the big games. He's a tinkerer. I'm not saying it WILL work but he'll try it, whatever it may be. Hopefully Klopp knows his plan already (proactive) rather than ending up having to find a solution in game (reactive).

I understood the point you made.

Who will ever forget the time his Bayern side went 3 v 3 at the back against Suarez/Messi/Neymar at the Camp Nou.

Granted, they could easily have been 3 down in the first 90 seconds but there was a huge part of me that admired the balls to even think that was a good idea. They reshuffled after 5 minutes when it became apparent that they were going to be brutalised.

[sinnermichael]

Their record at Anfield is woeful. Won once here this century in 2003.

I expect us to win.

[goalspaytherent]

They're a good side ...so are we ......bring it on

[redalways]

We've done better than expected, our targets have changed as a result. We shouldn't aim for top 4 now when we've made a start of title challengers. Unfortunately for us Chelsea have put together one of the best starts in PL history so we need to win to stay in the race.

It is a good start by Chelsea but we beat them on their home turf convincingly and will beat them again when they visit us at end of January. Title is very much on in my humble opinion if we beat City tomorrow.

[Caligula?]

Pep can do one. I hope the thinkerer really thinks it through and starts Bravo, Zabaleta, Stones, Kolarov and Clichy. The ease with which we'd slice through their back line is something to salivate over.

[dudleyred]

City fan here ... just to pre-warn you, I lived in Cheadle Hulme and have been light blue since 8.  So no bandwagon hopper here

Expecting a great game tomorrow - as it normally is between our two sides.  As you know, our record at Anfield is worse than awful (funnily enough, we have a rather good record at the Trafford Swamp over the past 6-7 years!)  So you guys definitely start as favourites.   But I don't think we'll roll over as we did in the league last year - expect us to perform more akin to the League Cup Final.

I don't agree with those here who say a draw hands Chelsea the title -- you may recall us overhauling a certain other team in 2012 when 8pts behind with 6 games left.   So everything to play for. 

Welcome!

Not sure you've got it in you to play like league cup last year. Big plus for you is aguero being back. I can see goals at both ends so should be a good game

[Lustig]

Had a look at bluemoon... what can I say. Absolute thundercunts ! Every single one of them. So so so bitter and angry and most of all totally pathetic bunch

of complete losers that will always have the inferiority complex written on their foreheads. I hope that this is just the case of that forum cause I've always had a soft spot for them.

The thing that got me was that almost everything connected with Liverpool is presented with low life scum comments like : Candlepool, Candlefield, candle-etc..... as i said..

LOW LIFE SCUM.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

City fan here ... just to pre-warn you, I lived in Cheadle Hulme and have been light blue since 8.  So no bandwagon hopper here

Expecting a great game tomorrow - as it normally is between our two sides.  As you know, our record at Anfield is worse than awful (funnily enough, we have a rather good record at the Trafford Swamp over the past 6-7 years!)  So you guys definitely start as favourites.   But I don't think we'll roll over as we did in the league last year - expect us to perform more akin to the League Cup Final.

I don't agree with those here who say a draw hands Chelsea the title -- you may recall us overhauling a certain other team in 2012 when 8pts behind with 6 games left.   So everything to play for.

Welcome, Happy New Year

It will be a tight affair tomorrow, hopefully we get the better of you again. It will be difficult no doubt, plenty of attacking and no bus parking at least.


We have an important month ahead of us, end december with this match and we play United and Chelsea afterwards in January, so big matches left and right for us.

[CheadleBlue]

Welcome!

Not sure you've got it in you to play like league cup last year. Big plus for you is aguero being back. I can see goals at both ends so should be a good game

We played better than the LC Final against Barcelona, second half Arsenal, first hour Chelsea and at the Swamp.  So yes, we've got it in us for sure.  That doesn't mean we'll win - as you are a very fine team with an excellent manager. 

[Ma Vie en Rouge]

I'm not expecting us to win every game but the way Chelsea are going it's looking like we might have to. People say Chelsea will drop points but we're already 6 points behind - we need to make up those points, and Chelsea to lose the points. Which essentially means we have to win every game in the hope Chelsea will drop them at some stage. We can't lose then hope Chelsea slip up as we won't make up any ground.

Well we are almost without any doubt not going to win every game. Neither will Chelsea. No team has ever, to my knowledge, won every game from this point on in a season in this league. Chelsea will drop points. We don't need to make them all up in the next month to have a chance. We just need to hang in there.

Oh, and City are not the only team to have looked like they could take on Chelsea. We beat them, at their place, with relative ease.

As for the match, I always think we can win these, under Klopp. At the very least, we won't fear it, we'll give it our all, and see what happens. I love going into these matches excited these days, because there's always a real chance we'll do something special now. If Firmino is back on it, I fancy us to win by the odd goal.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Aguero is always a threat, and it's unfortunate that he's back, he seems to score as soon as he comes back so, I'm expecting him to be a menace. Not sure how Ragnar will handle him....

De Bruyne is other main threat, he's fantastic in every aspect.

[CheadleBlue]

Had a look at bluemoon... what can I say. Absolute thundercunts ! Every single one of them. So so so bitter and angry and most of all totally pathetic bunch

of complete losers that will always have the inferiority complex written on their foreheads. I hope that this is just the case of that forum cause I've always had a soft spot for them.

The thing that got me was that almost everything connected with Liverpool is presented with low life scum comments like : Candlepool, Candlefield, candle-etc..... as i said..

LOW LIFE SCUM.

Bud, we've got nothing to be bitter or angry about.  We've always been underdogs - and a good number of us were at games in the third tier ... York away is pretty famous on Bluemoon.  Yes we lucked out with the Sheikh buying us out, but in all fairness you and United were throwing around money nobody else could back in your heyday.  I didn't expect either of our titles - I thought we'd completely blown it both years.   There are some oddballs on our forum yes (same with any forum), but overall, they appreciate good football

[Filler.]

but in all fairness you and United were throwing around money nobody else could back in your heyday. 

Is that what happens when you get a MASSIVE cash injection from nowhere? You just pretend that others did the same?

[ToneLa]

Papers talking up the manager rivalry. I love Klopp

“It’s really interesting. I know people are excited when they think about it. There is nothing to do apart from prepare the party for afterwards while everyone watches the television. The good news is that we are involved. It’s not City v someone else, it’s Liverpool v Man City. We are some kind of a challenger. We don’t care about being favourite or whatever, it feels like we are always challenging in each game and have to prove it, and now we have to make the people happy again. It’s possible. That’s how it is.”

Make us happy Jurgen 

[King Klopp.]

Bud, we've got nothing to be bitter or angry about.  We've always been underdogs - and a good number of us were at games in the third tier ... York away is pretty famous on Bluemoon.  Yes we lucked out with the Sheikh buying us out, but in all fairness you and United were throwing around money nobody else could back in your heyday.  I didn't expect either of our titles - I thought we'd completely blown it both years.   There are some oddballs on our forum yes (same with any forum), but overall, they appreciate good football

Overall it is filled with massive c*nts. Every other comment in the pre match thread is some pathetic dig. Dippers, Klanfield, Victimpool.

c*nts.

[Lustig]

Bud, we've got nothing to be bitter or angry about.  We've always been underdogs - and a good number of us were at games in the third tier ... York away is pretty famous on Bluemoon.  Yes we lucked out with the Sheikh buying us out, but in all fairness you and United were throwing around money nobody else could back in your heyday.  I didn't expect either of our titles - I thought we'd completely blown it both years.   There are some oddballs on our forum yes (same with any forum), but overall, they appreciate good football

Well Bud, read the thread and then tell me that most of the posts there are not bitter. And yeah, I agree with you that in theory since your change of luck with the Sheikh

there should not be a reason city fans to be angry and bitter... that's why I was surprised from the shit I read.

[John C]

A draw tomorrow would be as bad as a defeat. That's like handing Chelsea the title.

A few years ago we were top of the league on Chrimbo day without being spectacular, then we (unfortunately) lost 2 and drifted to 4th. A month or two later we went on a boss 11 game running win which I'll never forget in my life and we ...... well.

Kenny Dalglish. He once said to someone who queried him "lets get to the last game in May and 'tot' up the points".

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Bud, we've got nothing to be bitter or angry about.  We've always been underdogs - and a good number of us were at games in the third tier ... York away is pretty famous on Bluemoon.  Yes we lucked out with the Sheikh buying us out, but in all fairness you and United were throwing around money nobody else could back in your heyday.  I didn't expect either of our titles - I thought we'd completely blown it both years.   There are some oddballs on our forum yes (same with any forum), but overall, they appreciate good football

Mate, bluemoon is a cesspool, that's not to say that your entire supporters are, but that forum is in particular in regards to their views about us. Every other post is a derogotory towards the club and the city in the worse type of way

[Lustig]

Overall it is filled with massive c*nts. Every other comment in the pre match thread is some pathetic dig. Dippers, Klanfield, Victimpool.

c*nts.

Exactly. It's like when kids pretend to be this top ultra hardcore fan and feel the need to always insert a pathetic scummy dig every time they have a chance.

Or maybe it's not just kids but mostly internet warriors.