I hope people realise just how big this game is.
Scratch under the surface and there are many a similarity to a certain match that took place in 2005. Liverpool, playing at Anfield, having overcome some severe tests to get there, taking on a team in blue, a club bankrolled by some of the richest people on the planet. Liverpool, the supposed underdog. That Champions League semi final second leg at home to Chelsea in 2005 didn't win us the title we later went on to claim, but it certainly will be looked back on almost equally as fondly a night. If we go on to win the Premier League in 2014, I'm convinced we would need to have beaten Manchester City en route, and if that so happens then we will be looking back on that game as the biggest one on the way to our success, just like the Chelsea game in '05.
It will be super, duper difficult. City have lost one league game since November 10th, that coming at the hands of Chelsea back in February. They won the League Cup and were knocked out of two other competitions that exposed certain shortcomings, but their league form for the best part of five months has been nothing short of sensational. They won't be looking forward to visiting Anfield though, you can bet on that. For all their consistency in that period, we are the undisputed form team of 2014. 12 wins and two draws in the league since the turn of the year, a sequence of nine consecutive wins coming in to this one. A number of their players, notably Nasri and Kompany, have suggested we are the best team they have played this season. Yaya Toure has mentioned a couple of times in the past how tough he finds it to play Liverpool. And yet, while those Liverpool teams (albeit a similar or the same bunch of players) presented a real challenge to City, the 2014 Liverpool is even better. Preceding this year we could only win one way, and that was by playing teams off the park. Now we have more in our locker. We can still do that, or we can beat you when playing below par, we can beat you coming from behind, we can beat you in the face of adversity with bad decisions going against us. So what's it going to be? Because if City want to win this match then they sure as hell are going to need to earn it.
Aguero, Yaya Toure, Kompany, Silva - all world class players, but Suarez, Gerrard, Skrtel and Coutinho have been their match or more since 2014 rolled around. Negredo, Nasri, Fernandinho, Hart - all very good players in their own right, but then we have Sturridge, Sterling, Henderson and Mignolet all in top form themselves. The only area City have been stronger than Liverpool in during our mammoth run has been fullback, with Zabaleta and to a lesser extent Kolarov impressing, but does the latter have the desire of Jon Flanagan to get the job done this Sunday, and if Glen Johnson is on form then he's every bit the player Zabaleta is.
But that's all individual kerfuffle. Fact is, we're a team, and a fucking good one at that. City boast a tad more flair but you would be hard pressed to tell their players want this title more than Liverpool. Yes, the City bench is full of top internationals, whereas ours is rather weak in comparison, but do they have a morale-boosting beaming smiling Iago Aspas as cheerleader? No, they do not. There is an insane drive in our ranks at the moment reminiscent of that shown in phases of the 2005 Champions League run, and see where that got us.
I'm not downplaying Manchester City. They are a brilliant side, managed by a likeable guy in Pellegrini who has taken them up a notch this season. They rip teams apart when playing well and they win plenty of games when they're not. But they are beatable, and I think their kryptonite is our strength. We've outplayed them to varying extents the three occasions in which we've met them under Rodgers - both 2-2 draws last season, which we gifted them late points due to idiocy, and in the 2-1 reverse this campaign where we were undone by bad decisions from the officials and erratic finishing from ourselves. But the point is they struggle against teams with relentless levels of energy. Southampton are the nearest thing to us in that respect, albeit with lesser quality players, and they have really given City some games over the last year. City beat teams that sit off them because they have the guile to get through two banks of four, but get in their faces (in a strategized way, of course) and they may be prone to crumble from time to time.
I suspect Aguero will start despite his injury layoff. Feels like his return has been held back with this game in mind. Might not get the full 90, mind. I think Pellegrini will abandon the 4-2-2-2 they have so often utilised this season, instead opting for a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 type formation with Toure, Fernandinho, Silva and Nasri potentially joined by one of Javi Garcia or Navas in place of a second striker. Interestingly they drafted in Lescott for Demichelis when we met on Boxing Day, presumably under the impression he was better suited to dealing with Suarez, but Demichelis has been earning better reviews of late so I think he will start this one for them. SAS need to isolate him whenever possible.
They score lots of well worked team goals. I've noticed they are particularly fond of the cutback from wide areas, with the likes of Toure and Aguero knowing where to place themselves, so we'll have to be wary of that. Kolarov cooks a mean delivery from wide, mind, so we need to try and stem that tide; his crosses are very dangerous.
Rodgers has some big calls to make. Sakho and Lucas came in from the cold at West Ham on Sunday and performed admirably. But Agger may be back, and Coutinho has been especially good in games at Anfield. Allen was due to start against the Hammers, but I'm not so sure we'll him from the getgo in a home game where the onus is on us. Sterling deserves to keep his place, he's been great and also gave Kolarov a torrid time in December. Whatever the team, I'll have confidence in us being able to get the job done. We have 14 top players and 11 will be picked.
The Hillsborough anniversary looms. Gerrard is old enough and experienced enough to channel his emotions to work positively, I think, and hopefully Flanagan can do likewise.
A win on Sunday would be a perfect tribute to the 96. It would also put us in the driver's seat as far as the Premier League title race goes.
Over to you, Tricky Reds. Get it done, by hook or by crook.