I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little-worried heading into our latest Premier League game, at home to Liverpool. History in this fixture has not been kind to City, although recently at home, in particular, things have improved a little.
With the news of Vincent Kompany being out, picking up a calf injury while on International duty, I was a little nervous as to how we would set up, and ultimately cope, with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola decided to line up with his typical three at the back, with Danilo being the third, joining Otamendi and Stones. Prefered over the Frenchman, Mangala, we tried to offload in the summer Danilo is ‘Mr Versatile’ for Pep. So the starting eleven were as follows:
Ederson, Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Danilo, Mendy, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, David Silva, Aguero and Jesus.
In the early moments of the game it was Liverpool who started off the brighter. Putting pressure on City early on, the Liverpool side looked to add another top six scalp, to add to the Arsenal one they got two weeks ago. Three minutes in, Sadio Mane went in late on Walker to give the hosts their first real chance by way of a free-kick just outside the Liverpool area.
As the game progressed both teams began to find their feet and play became more balanced. Both City and Liverpool had efforts on goal bringing good saves from the opponents keeper.
The deadlock was eventually broken in the 24th minute when Fernadinho won the ball close to the halfway line. He passed to DeBruyne who saw Agueros run before threading the ball perfectly to the Argentinian. Aguero took the ball around an onrushing Mignolet before slotting the ball home. In doing so, he not only gave City the lead, but also became the top scoring non-EU player in Premiership history.
Ten minutes later, and in the space of a couple of minutes, Jesus and then Stones went close to doubling the lead. Stones hitting it straight at the Liverpool keeper when finding himself in a good position, either side would have done young man.
Then comes the talking point of the game. With Liverpool chasing the game their player, Mane, collided with the City goalkeeper in a horrific way and subsequently saw red. I was actually amazed at the post match phonecalls to talk shows that there was doubt about the card, but I will address that in-depth in a later piece.
Studs to the face when the boot is raised is never a good thing to suffer, and fears of broken bones, concussion and neck injuries were obviously the concern. As a result, time was given by the referee for the medical staff to do what was needed. Eventually, after nine minutes, he was carried off, on a stretcher with oxygen, and Bravo came on. Again, at the time, considering the history with Bravo and the amount of game remaining, I was a little nervous.
Deep into stoppage time Gabriel Jesus thought he had doubled the lead, but his header was correctly ruled out for offside. Three minutes later he would double the lead with a header, again with an assist from DeBruyne, to send City in at the half 2-0 up and with a man advantage.
The second half saw the introduction of new signing, Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, for Salah. Klopp’s men certainly were still in with a shout at this point providing they could get a goal. The earlier they could halve the deficit, the more nerves would grow in the City defense.
Less than ten minutes into the second half and Aguero had the ball in the net, ruled out again for offside. And like the last time, shortly after the blues would have the ball in the net again, this time legally. A beautifully, unselfish Aguero laid the ball off to Jesus when he could have shot. Jesus made no mistake as he made it two for him and three for City.
That would be the young Brazilians last big contribution before being substituted for Leroy Sane, an unsurprising move. With this game seemingly wrapped up, and the games he played during the International break, Pep would want to rest him ready for the midweek Champions League fixture.
And it would be that substitute to wrap the game up. Firstly, in the 77th minute, a beautifully worked one-two between Sane and Mendy saw a perfectly slotted ball give Mignolet no chance. Moments from the final whistle Sane added a fifth in a fantastic curling shot from outside the area.
Related Story: Manchester City: A statistical look at City against Liverpool
Referee Jon Moss put Liverpool out of their misery by blowing the final whistle and talk will be of that red card. What should not be lost though was the ruthlessness of the City attacking line, after all, you can only beat what you find in front of you.
Criticized for wasting chances in past matches, this time City had thirteen shots, with ten of those on target. Half of those shots on target were converted to goals and, against a high-pressure side, we enjoyed 66% of the possession. Certainly, positives can be taken from this game and, no matter what you get told, beating ten men isn’t easy. I am not saying that we City will go on to steam-roller other sides, quite the contrary, I think we’ll endure some frustrating games. But this was special and don’t let anyone tell you differently.