Manchester City Rue Penalty Miss Against Liverpool

City Altered Their Style To Secure A Result

To anyone who was watching the build up towards this match between Liverpool and Manchester City on TV or in any of the mainstream media, you would have thought the match was worth at least 10 points in the title race. A steady stream of Liverpool goals were on hand and the ex Liverpool players in the studio, in the commentary team and in print – all reminded the fans City had gone 15 years without a win at Anfield. You may not be aware of that fact so hopefully the media reminded you continually. Despite City being the current Champions by the biggest margin ever and having beaten Liverpool 5:0 last season, City were classed as hopeless underdogs.

Constructing narratives is what the media does and at the moment the media are in a Liverpool love in and to no ones surprise Manchester City are the baddies. The bit which didn’t quite fit the narrative was Liverpool had failed to score in their last match away to Napoli. The front attacking three for Liverpool of Mane, Firmino and Salah had failed to register a single shot on target. Remember that fact because by the end of the match today it was being referred to by the assembled ex Liverpool player pundits as a reason for today’s result.

Before the match there was much speculation about the side Guardiola would select for the game, stoked in part by Guardiola and his evasive and elusive answers to questions at the pre-match press conference. Sometimes I am not clear if Guardiola is having fun with the reporters who are present and sending them on a merry dance or whether he genuinely doesn’t understand the questions posed, the nuances of language. There had been talk of Mendy and even Kevin de Bruyne. There were worries amongst the fans about the formation – would Guardiola be second guessing Klopp? Would he set up his side to counter the threat of Liverpool? What would Liverpool do – would they alter their tactical approach or just concentrate on running about fast.

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There were some surprises in the side named by Manchester City. Benjamin Mendy returned to left back having been out injured for most of the last couple of months. Aymeric Laporte and John Stones were together at centre back – both of our ball playing defenders at once. Walker resumed his usual right back role. Fernandinho was in his usual defensive midfield role, reinforcing already our lack of cover at that position and how important that fact may be over a long season. The rest of our midfield was made up by the two Silvas, who are quickly becoming a dependable double act. Today Riyad Mahrez was preferred to Leroy Sane in the starting line up, with Raheem Sterling lining up on the left and Mahrez on the right. Whether this was because of the issues which happened last time Mendy and Sane started together on the left – running into each others space, was not very clear. Sergio Aguero, the Premier Leagues most deadly marksman, was preferred in attack despite never having scored at Anfield. And of course Ederson was in goal, another long shift lay ahead for him with not much to do.

Liverpool pressed high and fast from the attack. The Liverpool fans sang “You’ll never walk alone” a couple of times but then the crowd and Liverpool side fell strangely silent. The gegenpressing style preferred by Jurgen Klopp is so drilled into this Liverpool side now that when their Plan A doesn’t work, when running fast at the opposition hasn’t delivered a counter attack and a goal – they seem to be a little lost, looking back to the bench for inspiration. City did well to weather the initial storm, protecting the ball and passing under pressure.

From the initial 15 minutes of the match, City started to pass the ball around and threatened to launch an attack. If anything they were careless in possession in the attacking phases of the game – so far this season we have been careless in defensive transitions so this was a novelty. Liverpool chased the game and the ball. Martin Atkinson was refereeing the game and he is an official from who we have had a wealth of poor decisions in recent games. Every tackle we made resulted in a yellow card. Every Liverpool tackle resulted in no sanction. The major talking point from the half was an incident involving Sergio Aguero in the Liverpool penalty area. He received the ball from wide, keeping it under control but was barged over by Dejan Lovren in a clumsy, almost panicked tackle. This looked a penalty but protests were waved away.

The second half continued in a similar vein. Liverpool pressed early but City wrestled control back and largely retained it. Liverpool threatened little other than from distance and neither did City. An interesting tactical battle was being played out in front of a subdued kop. Sterling was subjected to the usual senseless booing from the Liverpool fans but had looked lively and sharp in the small spaces he was operating within. He was withdrawn for Sane and he began to stretch the Liverpool back line with his running.

Sane was launched forwards into the area in the last 10 minutes of the game and was brought down by Virgil Van Dijk, the world’s most expensive defender. It was a clear cut penalty which even Martin Atkinson would be hard pressed to deny. Mahrez stepped up to take the kick but placed his shot high above the cross bar. As bad a penalty miss as they come and annoyingly it was the perfect opportunity to exorcise the demon of our recent Anfield record. Liverpool were momentarily spurred on by the miss, their fans were roused from slumber but again City saw the match out.

Curiously as a fan this game started nervy but quickly those nerves subsided and instead I felt more confident as each minute passed. In the end we were unlucky not to come away with a victory – a missed penalty is as close as it gets. Whether this is a point gained or two points dropped wont really become apparent until the end of the season, but to me, today, it felt like a point gained.

After the match the media narrative began to move to how Liverpool’s attack had failed to score in their last 180 minutes of football and how it was this failure which was the reason Liverpool did not win. Their slack strikers were a result of tiredness from European travel. Of course, City had travelled to Germany in midweek against Hoffenheim, but that doesn’t fit the narrative. I am happy for that deluded nonsense to continue, let Liverpool and Chelsea have the limelight. Let it be their title to lose. We are now going into the second international break on the top of the table and have our very best player, Kevin de Bruyne, expected to be fit for our next match against Burnley. This seems to be a fantastic position to be in and at this stage of the season only a fool would bet against the champions.