Manchester City 1-4 Liverpool

Has there ever been a Premier League season like this one? We’re 13 weeks into it and Leicester City are in first place. Chelsea are still in the bottom half. Manchester United are boring but great at defending and Arsenal looked like they’d finally put their Arsenality behind them (until this weekend). It’s mental, the top goal scorer is Jamie Vardy. Next week he plays Manchester United in a top of the table clash as he tries to break a famous MUFC shooter’s fabled record. Absolutely wild.

And way up there in the weird and wonderful stakes is the fact that Jurgen Klopp, the jolly, bearded German maestro that he is, now manages Liverpool and Manchester City have now lost 4-1 for the second time this season.

Remember when City started the year flawlessly with five straight wins, all with clean sheets? Well in their last 14 games in all comps they’ve kept opponents scoreless only twice and both were 0-0 draws away from home (Man Utd and Aston Villa). People had them running away with the title after a month but it’s a long, long season. City have still only lost three PL games and they sit two points off top. However they’ve only won one of their last four. It’s such a strange season.

Up against Liverpool, this game was sold as Raheem Sterling vs the Jealous Exes. How relevant that was, well it depended on the 90 minutes between whistles. It’s fair to say that Liverpool fans didn’t take the Sterling things too well and there’s no doubt that he’d be booed by the away fans, despite what was definitely a case of dual-culpability. You wanna blame a young player for contract talks tumbling like that and ignore the fact that your club (and former manager) pushed him out the door then that’s fine. That’s how fans have to react. But that’s not the whole truth.

Anyway, this was a heavy match for him. As it may have been for James Milner, though nobody could possibly tell. He’s got about the deadest face of expressions you’ll find in football – both a blessing and a curse in his career. Milner left on good terms though, released on a free to thankful applause, so he didn’t have too many reasons to worry about his own reception.

Both of these teams had disappointing results before the international break – City that draw with Villa and Liverpool a 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace, Klopp’s first major setback. There were striker crises on either side, though City solved theirs by chucking Sergio Aguero straight back into the starting XI after whispers that he was ready to return over the last couple days. Jesus Navas came in as well, giving them a speedy and interchangeable (between Sterling and De Bruyne anyway) forward line behind Serge. Interestingly Fernando started in place of Fernandinho – probably because ‘dinho, the superior and form player, got the call-up to Dunga’s Brazil squad while the other lad didn’t. Neither did Roberto Firmino or Coutinho, but we’ll get to them in a sec. Elsewhere there was a complete change at CB with Kompany and Otamendi out (one an international traveller and the other predictably injured) and replaced by Otamendi and Mangala. David Silva will be back soon which is huge, he was untouchable early on, but this game was a step too soon for him.

As for Liverpool, they went with the Firmino-as-striker thing again, rather than risking Divock Origi in an important game, while Lallana also got a start, with the ominous Dejan Lovren replacing the vastly-improved but-unfortunately-injured Mamadou Sahko. Liverpool didn’t have the same distraction as City’s Champions League game midweek (City are basically through, but seedings do matter), so they didn’t have to be as stingy with dishing out minutes (not that City were overly worried outside of their defence – Aguero played) but having their two Brazilians fresh and ready was a blessing.

Neither manager was too forthcoming with their plans but Klopp did stress the need to find a rhythm without getting too ‘hectic’, spoiling their spacings. He’s such a breath of fresh air, talking about football in a way that too few PL managers even consider. Plus he pointed out that when they shoot, they need to score, and that it’d help if they didn’t concede either.

Interviewer: “You make it sound so easy.”

Klopp: “Yeah! That’s football, cool huh?”

It’s been an amazing turnaround in effort from LFC under Klopp. Players want to run around and make the kinds of creative sacrifices for him that they didn’t for Rodgers. They looked compact early, playing without much width. Patient on the ball and happy to see out the first five minutes or so without taking any damage.

And then they scored. Just like that. Sagna lost the ball to Coutinho, who played in Firmino, who tried to hit his compatriot on the reverse but Mangala wandered in the way and shinned it clumsily into his own goal. So simple, you have to wonder how the hell that can happen from City. Seven minutes in and 1-0 down. Sagna was way too weak in letting the whole thing start but Mangala was so concrete-footed it was insane. That is not the way you wanna start in what’s basically a relief performance. So supremely avoidable it was almost surreal.

It was striking how much more space there was for Liverpool attackers than for the City slickers. A lot of that was to do with where they were getting the ball, City tending to start from deep and build upwards, often through Hart lumping one up the park and that was leading to congested scraps for the loose ball in midfield. But on top of that it was more than noticeable how much Milner and Lallana – wide forwards – were willing to get back and help. Miner came up with a couple of smart defensive plays in the box in the first 20 or so, Lallana often occupying similar space. However Lallana was getting himself well forward all the same. Too far forward, getting flagged offside a couple times in otherwise great positions.

City’s best stuff was coming through Kevin De Bruyne, though he was wandering very wide to find the ball. All the way out to the right flank, usually, where Lucas was loathe to follow him. Sterling had a couple nice touches but he was yet to offer much else.

Meanwhile Firmino was rushing the defence just enough to be a little more than pesky. 22 minutes played and he was at it again, cutting across the backline and forcing Demichelis and Mangala into trouble. Firmino stole it and fed it across the box, having stretched a big hole in the middle of the defence. Coutinho barely broke the offside trap but he did and there he was to flick it between Joe Hart’s legs and it was 2-0 to Liverpool, against all odds.

Poor Joe, he hadn’t had a save to make. But he’d been on the ball over and over, constantly called into action by a panicky and indecisive defence and usually having to thump it long to nothing in particular. At one stage he hesitated his kick and the crowd booed but all Hart really wanted was someone to kick it to. The backline was out of the question, all covered by Liverpoolers, and Sterling or De Bruyne weren’t winning any headers. Yaya, maybe, but Emre Can was always up for the aerial challenge.

As for Aguero, he had one flourish in the first couple minutes and nothing for half an hour after that. When he tried to slip past Skrtel in the box, he stopped to appeal for a handball. Stopped, plain stood there. When a guy as enthusiastic as him is giving up that easy you can tell the way the game’s been going. That kind of thing is 90% demoralisation.

Ooh, but it only got worse.

The third goal was outrageous. A bit of scrappy play down the left flank saw a couple of fifty-fifties, specifically Milner winning out on a sliding Fernando, and as Firmino held off Mangala he set Milner off with plenty of real estate in front of him and a whole lot of chasers behind. Look at those City lads all bunched together.

Coutinho slapped one at Hart which was punched clear but Moreno – the LFC left-back! – was first to it. Sagna got there eventually, but only really in time to watch Firmino’s backheel drift past him and into the path of Coutinho, who drew in the keeper and returned the favour to Firmino for a tap in to make all other tap ins look like 30 yard speculators.

3-0 within 32 minutes. This was straight up crazy. If it wasn’t for Joe Hart rushing out and making himself big them Firmino might have made it four after some more awful defence. There was another close shave a minute later.

There was some consolation. Sergio Aguero remains the most dangerous striker in England and sometimes all he needs is half a yard. A couple of rotations short of the half, and he got just that. A poor clearance by Skrtel picked off and Lucas (on a yellow) couldn’t stay with him to keep the shot from coming. It came, right into the bottom corner for 3-1 at the break. A slight hint of a chance of a comeback, perhaps.

But just in case, they made a couple subs as well. Fabian Delph on for Jesus Navas, an extra midfielder to try and establish some sort of hold on the middle of the park, a few bodies to pass to and give the defenders a few outlets. On top of that there was a straight sub, Yaya off and Fernandinho on. A player with more of a defensive presence and one probably with a little more discipline too.

It worked on one count. Their midfield was better with the ball. However the team was losing the ball just as often in their own half, and that ended up offering another benefit of the extra midfielder because Delph found himself doing some important defensive work. City were scrappier. They were fighting that bit harder and that didn’t exactly help them at the right end of the park but it put a stop to plenty of the defensive problems. Still, the first great chance of the second half came 15 minutes into it and it was Firmino shooting at the keeper with either side to aim for after a gorgeous dummy from Adam Lallana. Top save by Hart, to be fair.

A couple minutes later Coutinho rolled the ball into an empty net but he’d made his run too early and was flagged for offside. He and Firmino linking up again, they were next to unstoppable.

Sterling and Aguero seemed to have the Liverpool defence at all sorts only for Mignolet to recover and save. Fernando hit one over the bar on the half-volley from a corner. Had City scored the next goal and made it 3-2 then the game may well have been very different.

Coutinho came off slightly injured, replaced by Jordan Ibe. Kelechi Iheanacho replaced Aguero. We were 70 minute in and the fightback was running out of time.

One of the worries about this Klopp era Liverpool is that they don’t have the fitness to maintain the level of energy that the manager demands. It’s a fair call, in most of their games their first half has been by far the better one (an exception being the Chelsea win). That was the case in this game, those first 32 minutes blasting their opponents out of the water, though let it be known that LFC won the second half 1-0 too and they did it thanks to this rocket from Martin Skrtel.

Thumping effort, Skrtel always enjoys a goal against City and he duly obliged to kill this one off once and for all. It ended 4-1, despite all predictions, and against all anticipations.

The thing is, Raheem Sterling didn’t have a bad game. He was just a non-factor for most of it. It was at the back where they let this one go, Eli Mangala (who had done so much to regather his reputation after a tough first season) had a shocker. Demichelis wasn’t all that much better. Joe Hart happened to have a great game, not that he’ll remember it with any fondness. James Milner… he was undercover superb, working hard and apparently never tiring. Nobody made more tackles.

If you’re wondering how one of the best defences in Europe turned into this, it’s not complicated. Every one of their Premier League clean sheets has come with Vincent Kompany at the back. Even after flying back from South America, it may have been a mistake not to play Otamendi – they desperately needed something more solid, more enforcing. The midfield really wasn’t up to much either and Fernandinho sitting on the bench was a frustration. Yaya Toure was far too quiet. Things improved in the second half but they improved at the expense of an extra attacker which was noticeable when they did get forward. Given the absentees, this isn’t a game to hold to firmly against City in the long run. Damn, but they showed their hand. There are a few key players that they absolutely rely on and without them there are problems.

Should we fear this Liverpool team though? Maybe. Fear them head to head but they’re probably not destined for the Champions League this season. Probably not. That’s a firm ‘probably’ at this stage, because Jurgen Klopp has already done something that Brendan Rodgers never achieved: he’s won twice away from home against traditional ‘top four’ opposition. The difference in the energy between Klopp and Rodgers (both on the sidelines and from their teams) is incredible. It takes time for a new manager to impress his ideas and get the results of that and you can’t make omelettes out of rotten eggs. This is as close to a perfect start as anyone could hope for.

“In defence, in attack and in possession I have never seen my team play in the way they played tonight. It was not one name or another name who was to blame it was the whole team. I was not happy with the performance of all 11 players. It was a complete disaster.” – Manuel Pellegrini

This result shows that, and it shows that we are still improving. We counter‑attacked really well, but I think we can defend better, so it was not perfect. I thought the most important thing was that you could see the development in our game... A result like this should help the boys start to believe in themselves.” – Jurgen Klopp

Man of the Match: Roberto Firmino, not that he was perfect but the dude was a complete handful for the entire time he was on the pitch. He put that back four under constant pressure with his endless hustling, giving his manager exactly what he hoped to see. He probably should have scored at least one more but the only real negative is this worrying thought: Can Benteke or Sturridge do what Firmino just did off the ball?

The Good

Jamie Freakin’ Vardy – What more is there to say? He just keeps on scoring and there’s nothing anybody can do to stop him. He’s tied Ruud Van Nistelrooy after his 10th straight game with a goal and next week he goes up against the stingiest defence in the league and RVN’s old team to try and beat the record. Cannot wait, it’ll probably get feature game status if he scores.

Rommy & Ross – Between Lukaku and Barkley, Everton have as good of a one-two punch as anyone without an unlimited chequebook. Each bagged a double as they ripped Villa to shreds. Lukaku’s now second top scorer behind Vardy. He’s scored four in three. Everton are coming good after a tough schedule list early on.

Fergie Time – Bastian Schweinsteiger’s little dab in for Deeney’s 90th minute own goal was Manchester United’s latest winning goal since Robin Van Persie whipped in an injury time free kick in the Manchester Derby back in 2012. That was under Sir Alex. On a day when two of their biggest rivals both lost this was a very big statement.

The Bad

Injuries, As Usual – Manchester United have a few at the moment but they’re coping. Arsenal on the other hand are keeping up their usual numbers. Now Francis “Le Coq” Coquelin may miss months and that’s the last thing they need with all of their other midfield injuries. Le Coq isn’t exactly Patrick Vieira but he plays an important role in this team that nobody else can really cover. Not Santi, not Arteta and not Flamini. Arteta came on for Coq and lasted 30 mins before getting injured himself.

Santi Cazorla – Whoops.

The Ugly

Smiling Jose Mourinho – Furious vendetta Jose is one thing but does anyone trust him more when he smiles? *shivers*

Memphis’ Mutton Chops – At least he kept himself entertained during his spell out of the team. These chops could’ve used another week or two, though.