The Liverpool FC Forum > Opinion

Round Table - Liverpool v Man City. Coutin-who?

(1/10) > >>

PhaseOfPlay:
"Broke into the wrong goddam rec room didn't you, you bastards?" - Burt Gummer, Tremors

All good things come to an end, and for Manchester City, they were having a bit too much of a good thing. 22 games unbeaten since the start of the season, 18 wins on the trot at one point, and even managed to navigate the choppy, Werthers Original-flavoured waters that is a Roy Hodgson Crystal Palace. This season they have been, in the league at least, a symphony. Perfectly in tune with each other, they gobble up the ball, chew it for 700 passes or so, and then spit it out into the other team's goal when they feel like scoring. They have been a Bach fugue, a Mozart concerto and a Bernstein musical all in one packet.

But nothing beats a symphony like a well-strummed, amp'd-up, high decibel power chord. And against City, Liverpool and Klopp's "Heavy Metal Football" was playing all the power chords it knew, turned up to 11, with silver plectrums, and a Les Paul guitar.

And City didn't know what to do. At least for 80 minutes. They may have already had a goal at that point, but they were in no way in control of the game. They had a lot of the ball, but they weren't really hurting us with it. But when we got it?

"Is this the bit where we’re supposed to make guitars collide
And is this the bit where we release all that raw energy
And is this the bit where we go crashing through those barriers"
- I was a Teenage Honved Fan, HMHB

It's not often that a Pep team looks lost. It so happens that it usually occurs against Klopp. The total Gegen of the Press, the Heavy of the Metal, and the Kerrang of the Bang (I made that one up), meant that no matter where City went, moved, passed or dribbled, there were 2-3 red shirts there, itching to liberate them from the ball, and make them turn and retreat with the speed of a man who has just eaten a curry and has caught himself mid-follow-through, and is making an urgent dash to the lav. There was absolutely no respite for City, especially in the second half.

Tactically, there wasn't much new or different from either team in terms of shape. A back four, a deep mid, a running mid, a mid who joined the attack, two wingers, and a striker. The difference being that Firmino had licence to roam and press, whereas Aguero was a pure striker, hanging about the defenders, hoping to catch a through ball, cross, or bad pass:



The Liverpool performance was midfield-heavy, in that a lot of the work that led to the win was done in the midfield. This alignment of players was possibly the ONLY alignment of players that could have outworked City, used the ball well, run at their defenders, create chances, and still have the speed and energy to get back and defend at pace. Can was steadfast, Gini was hard-working and functional to the highest degree, and Oxlade-Chamberlain was the jewel in the midfield crown - showing Wenger and Arsenal what could have been if he'd been trusted more in central midfield. He deserved ANY goal on the day, but he definitely deserved the opener. And it was a goal that was a nice mix of industry and skill, as the tireless work of Firmino pressing from behind released the ball to Chamberlain who duly powered the ball to the edge of the box and smashed one into the far corner. All goalkeeping debate aside, the City goal was a defensively poor goal to concede, with Gomez losing the flight of the crossfield ball, Matip being sold an obvious dummy, and Gomez again making an error (chasing the ball rather than anticipating it's likely destination) just before the shot. But no problem. We went in at the break 1-1, and it came down to which manager would get their team prepared for the second half the best.

We know the answer to that.

Second half added more Geg to the Press, while City tried to trust their possession patterns. No dice - Liverpool were swarming around them like flies around a thing that flies swarm around. A second goal would have been great, but the Reds treated us to goals 2, 3 and 4. We were 4-1 up against the unbeaten, league-champions-elect, with 10 minutes to go. And they still didn't know what happened. Gini, Can, Chamberlain and Robertson were running the show. Robertson - possibly the most Emlyn Hughes-esque game from any Liverpool defender in aeons. He wasn't just ferociously stalking Sterling at every turn - he was stalking City's own left-side defenders at one point. If Chamberlain and Gini hadn't had such great games, he surely would have been a contender for MOTM. His work-rate, and the work-rate of the midfielders, served to nullify and torment a City team who tried to play a power chord in return, but ended up only breaking their strings:



Defensively, the back line was solid, tight, and focused their efforts where the main dangers were (although this might have been what caused us to switch off for City's first goal. We corralled De Bruyne and Sterling, which cut off the supply to Aguero. Gundogan is not the player he used to be, although he's effective, and the long crossfield ball to Sane was probably the only real threatening pattern they could pose to us in the first half. The subs disrupted the rhythm, and Can off reduced our workrate some, which allowed them back in, but we were never in danger. The fact that Otamendi had the most defensive actions of City showed that in every facet of the game, at every phase, Salah, Ox and Firmino had the City left side befuddled and under pressure.  The work of Mane and Robertson on the opposite side meant that Walker was kept busy defending, and wasn't able to have the attacking impact he usually has against the lesser teams. Overall, our defensive actions went through the whole team, rather than being settled at the back four, which is probably where most of City's opponents have defended this season:



City will probably not face a performance like that again, unless we meet them in a cup competition. We were power chords; we were volume; we were 50 stacked amplifiers of sound; we were Klopp, and we let City know what time it was for 80 minutes. And they won't be counting the days until they meet us again. We needed verve, we needed effort, we needed organization, we needed energy, will, strength, aggression and skill.

What we didn't need, was sat in Barcelona, probably cheering us on, but being quickly and deftly forgotten in the thrall of an outstanding performance.

harryc:
After that analysis nothing left to contribute really thanks PoP.

Just one observation obviously we controlled the game for 80 odd minutes. So should we have carried on pressing for 94mins or was it an error bringing on a player clearly unsuited to being playing in midfield in Milner which gave City a sniff and hence the nervousnes.

Do we need a midfield controller when the heavy metal football has done its job?

PhaseOfPlay:

--- Quote from: harryc on January 19, 2018, 11:31:21 pm ---After that analysis nothing left to contribute really thanks PoP.

Just one observation obviously we controlled the game for 80 odd minutes. So should we have carried on pressing for 94mins or was it an error bringing on a player clearly unsuited to being playing in midfield in Milner which gave City a sniff and hence the nervousnes.

Do we need a midfield controller when the heavy metal football has done its job?

--- End quote ---

Kloppo would probably say "no" ;D

Prof:
Brilliant write up PoP.  As artistic in its prose as it was informative in its content.

Thank you

Crimson_Tank:
Cheers PoP.

The prefomances for Ox, Can, and Robertson were a cut above.

Robertson in particular was brilliant, he harrowing of the opposition was outstanding. He had them all running and at a loss for what to do, on another day his pressing would have created a goal as Bobby's shot would have gone in. He has an insane amount of tackles and interceptions.

All in All a stellar job my the Reds.

Truly amazing what happens when there is not a sending off early in the game.

BTW I read somewhere that Can didn't miss any duels.

Also Klopps record against Pep is fantastic, he accounts for 1/3 of Peps losses.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page