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MOTD: Manchester City 1-4 Liverpoool

By on November 21, 2015

Manuel Pellegrini sat on the sidelines; Jurgen Klopp stood from the kickoff of Liverpool’s match at Manchester City. Pellegrini infrequently ventured into his technical area, motionless, hands stuffed deep into his pockets, while Klopp paced up and down the touchline in his highly animated fashion; jumping, waving his arms around, clapping, and yelling. The managers cut two starkly contrasted figures and their teams’ performances aptly reflected this juxtaposition.

Klopp’s men vigorously overwhelmed City in a vibrant 4-1 victory that leaves Pellegrini’s men trailing Leicester City (yes, Leicester City) by two points at the top of the table. In three years at Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers failed to win at Stamford Bridge or the Etihad, but Klopp has achieved both feats within his first month-and-a-half at the club. The Reds’ zealous pressing caught out City’s thin defense early on, with Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino combining for three goals within the opening half hour, and although Sergio Aguero pulled one back for a shellshocked City, Martin Skrtel’s emphatic finish late on was an excellent display of Liverpool’s all-out demolition.

On the sideline, Pellegrini was appalled by a “fake night” and a “fake game.” He told the BBC: “It was difficult to understand.” But Liverpool’s attacking force was hardly a mistake and their work rate negated City’s superior technical abilities. Coutinho and Firmino had a field day tearing through City’s defense, unmarked when dropping into deeper positions then causing chaos when slicing into the area.

Like their manager, the visitors started on their toes and just six minutes in, Coutinho dispossessed Bacary Sagna down the left. The Brazilian drove into the box and played a neat pass into the diagonal run of Firmino, who had peeled away from a snoozing Eliaquim Mangala. Firmino fired a low cross back into the area, which bounced into the back of the net off of Mangala, who couldn’t get his feet sorted out in time to clear the ball.

City’s backline sourly missed the presence of the injured Vincent Kompany, who watched on stony-faced from the stunned crowd. On twenty-two minutes, City’s defense was sliced apart yet again by Firmino and Coutinho as the former broke down the right. He drew Aleksandar Kolarov and Martin Demichelis with him, but neither were willing to make the tackle, allowing the Brazilian space to deliver a delightful ball across the box to Coutinho, who coolly finished past Joe Hart just that yard ahead of a ball-watching Sagna and Mangala.

On the half hour mark, Coutinho returned the favor to his countryman. City’s backline were caught sleeping for the third occasion as Emre Can teed up Coutinho down the left side of the box with enough time to square the ball to Firmino. The twenty-four-year-old had enough time to walk the ball into the back of the net, but a simple tap did the job as Liverpool continued their ruthless rout.

They simply didn’t afford City the place to play and it was a wonder that the traveling fans even noticed Raheem Sterling enough to jeer him in the closing minutes of the match. However, Klopp was still weary. “In each moment when we let them play, you saw what happened then,” the German gaffer remarked. “They are so strong.” Aguero’s beautiful, dipping twenty-five yard drive on the brink of the half was a warning sign, but City let their few chances go begging. Sterling whiffed a golden opportunity with the net wide open and opted to pass the ball on a one-on-one with Simon Mignolet.

In the second half, Pellegrini plugged City’s defensive holes by bringing on Fabian Delph and Fernandinho on for the useless Yaya Toure and Jesus Navas, but the tactical shift also made their attacks narrow and meager. “If we meant to do it on purpose we couldn’t have done it that badly,” sighed Pelegrini. “We tried to make changes and have some options to score. We tried to fight but continued making so many mistakes with the ball.”

Skrtel’s late volley made it only the second time that City had conceded four goals in a competitive game at the Etihad and their worst lost their on record. In Liverpool’s past two away games they have scored just as many goals as they managed in their eleven previous outings and Klopp says the good news is that they haven’t even been perfect. “We can do better [still],” he said.

Homepage photo credit: Dean Jones, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.