Manchester: It was the match of the week in Barclays English Premier League. The match every football fan was waiting to witness all across the globe. Manchester City hosted Liverpool at Etihad Stadium that ended 1-1 as neither of the clubs couldn’t edge past each other to win this mouth-watering clash.
Mohamed Salah scored the goal for Liverpool while for City it was their Brazilian no.9 Gabriel Jesus. But Pep Guardiola will be displeased with Kevin De Bruyne for missing out on a penalty which could have won the game for the Citizens. Jurgen Klopp would be concerned with Trent Alexander Arnold’s injury.
The match was about defending Champions Liverpool to hold on to their dominance at the top by winning and for City to recover from the poor start they had in the season. From the first minute, Liverpool looked stronger than City. On 13 minutes City’s Kyle Walker mistakenly tackled Liverpool’s Sadio Mane inside the box. There was no hesitation from the referee as he pointed towards the spot. Salah made no mistake as it was his fifth penalty conversion of the season.
With the lead Liverpool was looking better. Diogo Jota, Mane, Salah and Roberto Firmino were linking pretty well at the top. City were defending haphazardly but a team with so many good players are difficult to stop. On 31 minutes, De Bruyne played a perfect ball for Jesus who made a cool and calm finish to level the score. City started to press hard with De Bruynes’s shot hit the hand of Joe Gomez and with VAR assistance a penalty was awarded to City.
The Belgian went for the bottom left corner as the ball went wide. The game ended like that in the first half. In the second half, the teams tried to win every second ball but were missing with that extra edge. As the game ended with the same scoreline. Liverpool got the better opportunities in the second half but couldn’t convert those.
Whereas, City looked less threatening as Raheem Sterling was not in his best shape during the match. For Liverpool, an injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold will be a concern as they are missing out on key players in every match. For City, they have to think about the correct defensive combination. A match ended in a lot of promise but with some question marks for both sides.
Manchester City will be thinking they have lost a big opportunity. The Belgian with so much experience will never forget the penalty miss. Guardiola might not be much satisfied with the performance of his side. The defence looked lackluster. Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias were missing out on positions which led to Liverpool attacks. Even Rodri Hernandez in the middle should be questioned about his distribution.
Guardiola needs to think about him, he is not his Sergio Busquets. More importantly, he needs to understand this isn’t Barcelona, the hangover he has been carrying since leaving the club in 2012. Sad to say this season Manchester City has just been the shadow which they were two seasons back. A team with a lot of firepowers but just couldn’t execute themselves on the field. He needs to think of his tactics so that they play like City after the International break.
Liverpool on the other hand looked like a well-oiled machine. They play every game in the league like the defending Champions. Just keeping the Aston Villa match aside. Virgil Van Dijk’s hollow in the defence has been tried to fix by Gomez and Joel Matip, but they are just the shadow of the big Dutchman.
The goal they have conceded is purely due to the lack of understanding between the pair. Klopp is just losing out of options. The best find about the match was Jota for sure. The Portuguese have been blazing his gun since his debut. Salah and Mane were like the same they were in every other game. Firmino played his role as an ultra-defensive forward. But the problem will be the defence. Klopp is just losing out of options due to injuries and this may affect his side to hold their legacy this season.
In other Sunday games, Spurs beat West Brom 1-0. Leicester City won 1-0 against Wolves and West Ham beat Fulham 1-0.
