Player ratings: Man City 1-1 Liverpool
The old cliche of it being a game of two halves has rarely sounded so true as a thrilling first half petered out after the break . Let’s see how we fared…
Alisson (7.5) – Distribution unusually poor but did well to contain Sterling when one v one, making a decent stop and commanded his area well throughout, especially from crosses.
TAA (6) – Trent was just starting to hit a bit of form and now he’s the latest name on our injury list. Looked a threat going forward but had to be tighter to Jesus ahead of their goal. I still can’t decide if that was an outrageous bit of skill from Jesus, blind luck or a combination of the two. Probably the latter but either way, he had too much space to turn.
Matip (7) – One good thing about Matip is that he doesn’t seem to need any time to get match fit. Put in a solid defensive display, especially one v ones but his passing was absolutely atrocious so maybe lacking a little sharpness. Fingers crossed he stays fit for a period.
Gomez (7.5) – Really unlucky to concede the penalty, I don’t know what he was supposed to do to avoid it and he’s actually trying to pull his arm out the way. Another much improved display from Joe hoever, who seems to be enjoying playing on the left.
Robertson (7) – I said in the last ratings that I thought Robbo was being asked to be a little more reserved in his attacking play in Virgil’s absence and yesterday confirmed that as there was a marked difference in his starting position on the pitch after Trent went off injured and Milner assumed the more reserved fullback role. Torres barely got a sniff down Robbo’s side all night and he was involved in some nice build up play, especially first half.
Henderson (7.5) – Superb first half as Hendo set the tempo as we went for the jugular in the opening 25 minutes. Really good forward passing to keep us on the attack and ran tirelessly throughout. Hendo has added real consistency and intelligence to his game.
Wijnaldum (6.5) – Gave the ball away on a number of occasions, including a couple of times he just seemed to run into trouble or be caught in possession, which is really unlike Gini who’s normally so good in the tight spaces. Caught in no man’s land in the build up to their goal as well. Covered a huge amount of ground in the middle of the pitch though.
Jota (6) – I’m not a fan of Jota on the right, that’s twice he’s played there for us now and both times been ineffective. I’m not sure why Klopp didn’t stick Jota up top with Bobby and leave Mane and Salah on the flanks. Provided his usual industry but not much came off for him.
Salah (7.5) – Converted the penalty, looked a threat throughout and I thought he and Bobby pressed brilliantly but I’ll go into more detail on that later.
Firmino (6) – I could write the same thing about Bobby every week. Presses well but other than that, totally ineffective. Found himself clean through in the opening minutes and a player with confidence just lifts that ball over Ederson but we’ve seen for some time how low Bobby’s confidence in front of goal is. Tried to take it round Ederson and the chance was lost. Subbed before the hour mark.
Mane (8) – Sadio started the game on fire, proving far too hot for City to handle, none more so than when he gives Walker the eyes before turning on a sixpence and darting away from him, drawing the foul which led to the penalty. A constant threat throughout the game and put in some shift. With the lack of a standout performer in the team, I’ll go with the game changing moment of winning the penalty and award Mane this week’s McMOTM.
Subs:
Shaqiri (6) – Struggled to get involved and has a terrible barnet at the moment.
Milner (6) – Helped keep things tight defensively
Klopp-watch (10) –The 10 for Klopp may raise an eyebrow or two but it’s for more than the result and I’ll combine my summary with Klopp’s rating to explain.
I was all pleased with myself when I saw the team sheet, sure I’d called it right with the 4-2-3-1 I’d been banging on about in the lead up to the game and I’m sure Pep will have thought the same when he saw the team sheet. Klopp threw in a curveball however and we lined up in a 4-4-2 which became a 4-2-4 when we were attacking and City couldn’t get to grips with it for the first half hour.
Where Klopp really gets the praise though, was the pressing of Bobby and Salah. They consistently blocked the passing routes into CM from the City defence, especially in the first half hour. With Rodri and in particular Gundogan and De Bruyne in midfield, they have the heartbeat of their system. Quality ball playing midfielders and superb passers of the ball. It’s how they hurt teams. Salah and Bobby simply cut off the supply routes and forced them out wide again and again. This prevented City getting any kind of foothold in the game, or getting to grips with their possession game. We just needed a second goal in that opening 25-30 minutes when we were so dominant and I think we would have seen the game out.
For me, watching Bobby and Salah work in tandem to continually cut off those supply routes, in a system we never play and in a different style of counter pressing, where we were happy for their CB’s to have possession, before channelling them out wide and then pouncing, is testament to just how well coached this team is. Klopp and his staff should have been very proud watching the opening 30 minutes yesterday, as should Bobby and Salah for having the tactical awareness to implement it, with such little time to prepare.
The only thing I’ll say about Klopp is, the argument about having 5 subs loses some weight when you only use 2 out of the 3 you currently have available.
Anyway, on that note I’ll bring this ratings to a close. It’s time for another excruciating international break. I know you’ll all be looking out your kilts for Scotland’s big game with Serbia on Thursday. Walk on.
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